


The Doctor and the Paladins

by DCfan24_7



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Doctor/Patient, Dom/sub, Eventual Smut, Kinks, M/M, Post-Season/Series 02, Romance, Season/Series 02, Yaoi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-06-21 11:27:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 40,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15556692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DCfan24_7/pseuds/DCfan24_7
Summary: When a Galra hybrid doctor comes across an injured man on a nearly deserted moon, he provides medical attention to his patient. Then after that, he suddenly finds himself as a defender of the universe as he spirals down a path of secrets and mystery as he helps Voltron defend the universe. (Starts at season 2, episode 1 )





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So, during this story, my character is nicknamed 'the Doctor'. This is in no way an attempt at stealing or whatever, it's just a reference to a brilliant TV show I love called Doctor Who.

Being a Galra hybrid, it made you a monster in the eyes of others, they’d call you a freak of nature, hellspawn, a bastard child. It was enough to send anyone mad; but I’m not a monster, I just want to help people. I want to be a doctor.

My mother sent me to the best schools she could, to give me the best future I could have and I couldn’t have thanked her enough for it. However, school life was more difficult for me seeing as how both teachers and students saw me as ‘impure’. I tried to ask my mum for more information about  my heritage. 

She told me that she met a brilliant engineer who died long ago. She then went on to ask me to not tell anyone about my father’s side of the family. Everyone knew about my hybrid state, but what they never knew was what my dad’s species was. Mum said it was for the best to protect his planet. Only she knows.

Once I got past Medical School, life became slightly easier to live seeing how I didn’t have to hang out with school bullies every day now. I got my medical license and was ready to start helping people. I got a job and everything. I was happy. Keyword being ‘was’. Almost immediately, I was shipped off to a Galra fleet to assist the injured. I gotta do what I wanted to do, but it wasn’t that easy. While being a war doctor, I was still treated as an enemy rather than a friend by my patients. That was never the intention, I became a doctor to help people, to be a friend to them instead of being looked at like I was scum.

So, I made a bold decision, I fled the fleet and became a traitor to the Galra. I became a travelling doctor who would jump from planet to planet, helping the sick and wounded along my journey. I didn’t have a destination planned, just travelling everywhere. At first, I was feared because of my Galra appearance but over time, people started to warm up to me after a bit of convincing. At the end of it, before I hop off to the next planet, they always asked my name but I never gave it. I thought it’d be better to protect my loved ones. So, without my name, I received the generic title of ‘the Doctor’. I kinda liked it. Now, some of the patients I treat recognise me from gossip which makes it easier to treat them. My life was happy.

But I constantly have that feeling that there’s something still missing. It’s like when you feel something but you can’t name it. I never knew what it was, so I’d ignore it. Leave it as something that I’ll know when I find it. That was all a year or 2 ago. Now, I’m stranded on a near dead moon with 3 weeks of rations and medical supplies as well as a damaged ship. Not my fault, I was checking my communications when I suddenly noticed a meteor shower rocket into my path.

So, I retrieved the distress beacon from the wreckage and activated it before packing it and the rest of my supplies. I put on my bag and my helmet hud and began a long exploratory walk.


	2. A doctor and his patient

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Doctor explores the moon, he comes across an injured pilot who needs some major help.

I’ve been on a moon for 2 days and all I found was a funny looking skull that seemed to have a caterpillar stuck up its nose hole. I doubted that I was gonna find anything on this hellhole. But then again, I haven’t looked everywhere yet, I’ve still got to check underground and the sky.

As I continued to walk, I began to notice a small rumble in the surface. I was immediately concerned, the rumble began to quickly grow as it tipped me to the ground. I stayed still as I looked up and saw flashes of lightning opening a purple portal in the sky, popping out 2 ships that were hurtling towards the surface. One sped off away in the distance, while one spinner towards my direction. 

 

As it swung overhead, I looked back to see that the portal was closed and the rumbling had stopped. I took a few long breaths before standing up and checking my things. Nothing was damaged, thank goodness. But my concern laid with the ships that came out. There might’ve been someone hurt or injured in the crash. Immediately, I began to rush in the direction of the nearest ship, ready to care for potential patients. 

10-20 dobashes later, I was exhausted and stop to take a short break. As I regained myself, I began to listen to the questions in my mind. What were those ships? What happened to them? What will I find at those crash sites? All very important questions, I can assure you, but an even more important question right now would be, what’s that creaking noise?

 

The canyon near me released a creaking sound as if a machine moving. I cautiously walked over to the edge and popped my head over to scout the terrain. As I looked down, I saw a grey abyss and in that grey abyss laid the crashed ship. On top, there appeared to be a survivor. From the way he was clutching at his abdomen, it’d be a safe assumption that he’s been shot. Looks like the Doctor has a new patient.

“Hello.”, I called down to the ship, “Are you alright?” I saw the pilot turn his head towards me. “Who are you?”, the man asked. “I’m the Doctor.”, I tell him, “I saw your ship fall out of the sky, I came to see if you needed help.” I couldn’t see the man’s face behind his helmet. “Did you see my friend as well?”, he asked. “If you’re talking about the other ship then yes.”, I answered, “I didn’t see where it crashed though, it went pretty far. Hang on, stay there. I’ll be right down.” 

I noticed a stone path leading down into the canyon. I quickly ran down the path but bumped into the pilot halfway. He wore a white suit of armour with black highlights. “I thought I told you to stay where you were.”, I told him. “Thought I might save you the trip.”, he said. Before I could tell him about the implications that could’ve happened. He suddenly said, Keith. “I’m sorry, who’s Keith?”, I ask. Before he can respond, he groans in pain as he slides down against the stone wall.

“Are you alright?”, I ask holding onto him to put him in a comfortable position. “Keith. Keith, I’m here. I’m okay.”, he says to no one. “Who are you talking to?”, I ask him. He tells me that Keith is a friend of his who he’s talking with through comms. I nod. I move his hands slightly to see a couple of glowing purple slashes in the skin. It was the type of injury that could only be caused by a druid.

 

“It takes more than a glowing alien wound, a fall from the upper atmosphere and crashing into a hardpan surface, at what I’m guessing is about 25mps squared to get rid of me.”, the pilot said to his friend. “Oh my word, what’ve you been doing?”, I ask him. I can see a bit through his mask to see a type of scar running across his nose. I take out my medical supplies and begin cleaning the wound which emerges a hiss from the patient. It’s not long before a bandage is wrapped around his abdomen to stabilise the wound.

The pilot meanwhile, asks his friend how things are at his end, I can hear his friend from here who says that his ship’s busted and then asks about the wound. He explains to his friend that he’s with a local doctor who’s giving him a hand (not a handsie) with his injuries. “It’s nothing.”, he tells his friend. “Oh, it’s definitely something.”, I contribute which probably didn’t help. “The wound’s stabilised for now, but you’ll need a healing pod for wounds like that to start healing”, I tell him. He nods.

We then hear a snarling sound which causes us to look at the pilot’s ship to see that it had some uninvited guests. They were purple creatures, with short tusks, long red eyes, big claws and the look of hunger in their eyes. Definitely not good. “On second thought, you might wanna hurry.”, the patient tells his friend. I nod at that motion. I stand up and he does the same and we slowly back away.

It’s not that easy though as a familiar growl is heard behind us and we turn to see another one of those creatures. “ooooooooohhh no”, I whisper. It releases a small screech which attracts the others to block the other way. I look around for a place to go, a place to run, a place to hide. I turned to the pilot who was staring at something, I turn to see a small cave to the side. Big for us, but small for them. I look back at him and give him a nod before we start running. We slide down the slope and make a dash for the cave. I look to my left to see the man staying up to speed, but I also saw the giant creatures behind us that looked ready for dinner.

As one of them is about to reach us, the pilot wraps around me and we jump into the cave which got us out of its way. Unfortunately, the creature bangs it’s her into the cave which causes a bit of a cave in. The front was completely blocked off leaving a small fit for the pilot and I. There’s a bit of light and air coming in through the gap as the creatures stare at us. Oh, what a wonderful sight in the morning.

The creature bangs it’s head again looking for a way in, but it does no good. In fact, it does absolutely terrible because it’s making the cave more unstable. The pilot talks to his friend again and says that we’re fine and reported our current location. 

My helmet starts to I notice my HUDs broken, practically blinding me. “Dammit”, I curse before removing my helmet, revealing my purple face and hair with glowing yellow eyes with purple pupils (like a yellow background with the normal eye colour). I let out an elongated breath. “You’re a Galra?”, he asked curiously. “Half Galra”, I corrected him, “But don’t worry, I’m not a bad one if you’re worried.” “I’m not worried.”, he said, “I’m just curious is all.”

“Well, if you’d like to know. While others of my species prefer war and power, I’m a Galra who prefers love and peace.”, I explained, “Probably due to my other half of DNA.”

“Other half?”, he questioned. “Yeah.”, I responded, “I’m only half Galra, my mum fell in love with an engineer of another species. While not illegal, it was still considered a disgrace and as a result, I was regarded as ‘impure’.” “I’m sorry”, he said.

“It’s ok. Regardless, I took more after my human side despite my skin. I was less bloodthirsty than other Galra. While they studied war, I studied medicine.”, I continued, “Then after getting my license, I spent time as an army medic before running off and becoming a travelling doctor.”

“Why?”, he asked me.

I looked at him, not noticing the tears in my eyes. “Because I didn’t want to be a part of Zarkon’s world. I didn’t want to be part of an empire based on fear and destruction. I don’t want to be known for that. I want to be known for helping people, for giving them smiles and hope instead of tears and fears. I don’t want to be a warrior, I want to be a doctor.”

It was at this point I felt the drips of water on my face and I wiped them away. “Sorry, I should uh check on the bandages.”, I say as I begin to examine the bandages. They weren’t broken, thank goodness. “They’re good”, I informed him.

He thanked me, “What’s your name?” “I’m uh…I’m the Doctor”, I tell him again. “Doctor who?”, he retorts. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was something about him that just made me want to tell him everything. “Zas (pronounced like Victor Zsasz), that’s all I’m giving you.”, I answered. He just smiled at that and for some reason, it was quite comforting. “I’m Shiro”, he introduced himself.

 

I then heard a buzzing noise from his helmet signifying an incoming voice from ‘Keith’. “That really stayed with you, didn’t it?”, Shiro asked him. I crouched forward a little bit as he talked to his friend so I could keep an eye on the creatures outside. Shortly, I heard Shiro coughing and went back to him. He was absolutely sweating. As I checked him over again, I found a rising fever. This might be a little bit worse than initially thought. And this cave in certainly isn’t helping.

“Something wrong”, he asks me. “Uh no, no, everything’s totally fine.”, I lied, “it’s just a bit of a fever.” If I can make him as comfortable as possible, it would definitely help. But of course, the universe makes things hard for me. I hear a scuffling sound behind me as I look to see the creatures starting to move the rocks out of the way. “Oh no”, I said as I shuffled back to my bag looking for my service pistol which I kept around for precautions in case the Galra came for me.

 

Shiro called for his friend to hurry while rocks pattered with the claws of the creatures. I found the gun and cocked it before pointing it at the entrance. But at the same moment, one of those creatures burst it’s head into the cave and grabbed Shiro by his foot, swiftly dragging him across the cave and throwing him across the canyon like a ragdoll.

 

“Shiro!”, I cried as the creatures began to turn and circle round the weak prey that was my patient. His safety was my responsibility. I couldn’t let him get eaten. So I ran out and began popping shots at the creatures as I dashed over to Shiro. As I got close to him, I saw him draw some sort of weapon that allowed him to slash down the closest creature, but then he started clutching at his abdomen. This was just making it worse on the big guy. As I reached him, I didn’t notice the large head which crashed into us, sending us spiralling down the large cliff face. As we reached the bottom, there was no time to assess damage, just adrenaline. We both made mad dashes for safety as the creatures followed closely behind.

 

It was more clear for anyone to see Shiro’s limping form as he ran. He wouldn’t last long in a chase with these monsters. I tried to look around for any more small caves we can hide in but it’s no use. There’s only open terrain. I look behind us to see the creatures gaining speed on us. Eventually, we came to a stone wall. Nowhere left to run. We turned and saw a creature jump for us. I immediately grabbed Shiro and we jumped to the side. But one of them was waiting for us as a long tail whipped at Shiro, sending him down to the floor. Ready to be eaten.

 

I rushed to him and tried to look him over. But I had a great feeling I wouldn’t be able to do that. They got closer and closer, saliva dripping from their rotten mouths. I looked down at Shiro and saw him kneeling in a pained state. Oh my goodness, I failed. I failed him. “I’m sorry”, I whisper, “I’m so so sorry.”

 

Suddenly, I feel a slight warmth originating from behind me. I turn around to see something glowing from Shiro’s hand. Wait, correction. Shiro’s hand was glowing. How was that even possible, unless….

 

I didn’t have time to think as I turned and gasp at the sight of a creature making its attack. However, a giant metal foot pushes it off course as a black lion shaped ship landed in front of us.

“Oh, my word.”, I whispered as Shiro laughed a bit.

 

The ship turns around and attacks the second creature while the tail lands on a third, sending a gush of air that sends us back a bit. As we rise, I notice the swinging tail of the lion heading our way.

 

“Down.”, I grab him and pull him back down as the tail narrowly misses us. I look back to the fourth creature who turns and runs away. I turn to Shiro and ask if he’s alright. He nods and I laugh as the creature marks it’s victory with a roar. I hear a groan and remember to examine Shiro. He’s maintained some bruises on his body from what happened but other than that he should be fine. I felt the steam from the lion's mouth as it looks down at us. As I felt it, I turn to face the ship and saw it’s mouth open revealing a young adult boy who wore similar clothing to Shiro but instead he had red highlights. He also seems to have a sword drawn and he’s starting to run toward us. 

 

He yelled as he attempted to strike at me with his sword, which was easily dodgeable by stepping back. “What the hell are you doing?”, I ask him. He responds by coming in for another strike but as he gets close, he’s stopped by a strong hand on his shoulder. It was Shiro. “Keith, stop”, he told him, “This is the doctor who was helping me.” He turned back to me. “Shiro, you shouldn’t be up and about after that.”, I said ignoring the other boy, “You should be resting. Doctor’s orders.” 

 

“Are you sure?”, Keith whispers to Shiro, “How do you know he’s not playing you?” Shiro stared back at him in response, “Because I was alone and injured when we met, it was the perfect opportunity to do something to me but he didn’t. He helped me. Even with those creatures, he defended me and put himself at risk. I have good reason to trust him.” I could hear every word of their conversation and while I admit, I felt a bit offended. It was normal for me, ever sine Zarkon started this war, every Galra has been deemed a ruthless killer. You’re bound to expect hostility here and there. 

 

I tuned out the rest of the conversation by checking through my bag to make sure everything was alright. I lost my helmet earlier and now I’ve also lost my distress beacon; it must’ve been crushed during the fall. Other than that, some supply packs were crushed. My medical supplies and the rest of my supply packs, which would last for a day, were the sole survivors. As I packed all the useful items back into the bag, I looked up to see Keith head back into the ship while Shiro stood still. 

 

I walked over to him. “So, is he alright?”, I ask. “He’ll be fine.”, he replied, “I’m sorry about what happened, it’s just…” “He doesn’t like Galra.”, I finished, “I understand. I’ve experienced it before.” He sighed, “You’re brave. I’ll give you that. You travel around, you help people and all against the will of the Galra.” “It’s a hard life.”, I said, “But someone’s gonna do it. At least this way, hopefully, I can show people that there’s still some good in the Galra. Even if it might be small.” He smiles, “Thank you, for what you’ve done.”

 

“You’re welcome.”, I replied, “You’re my patient. Your safety is my responsibility.” “Well is there anything I can do to repay you?”, he asks me. “Actually, yeah.”, I answered, “My distress beacon got destroyed while we were against the creatures, would you mind giving me a lift?” “Not at all.”, he said. 

 

He invited me into the black lion where we went to the one seat cockpit. The only thing I could think was that this was an absolute marvel of technology. Shiro sat down in the seat while Keith stood to the other side of the capsule from me. As we took off, I had to hold on for dear life as the speed of the ship was overwhelming. Before we knew it, we were landing at the sight of the crashed ship belonging to Keith. It was another lion that matched the colour of his uniform. 

 

Keith quickly departed the ship and entered his own to start it. Meanwhile, I was still heaving from the journey. “That was….fast”, I commented. Shiro laughed, “Yeah.” Keith got his lion ready and we quickly found a lovely spot that overlooked the sunset. We built a fire and I laid Shiro down against a rock as we sat down and relaxed. 

 

“Today was exhausting.”, I commented. “It sure was.”, Shiro commented. He turned to Keith, “Thanks for saving us.” “You’d have done the same for me.”, he replied, “How’s your wound?”

“My wound’s great.”, Shiro answered, “It’s getting bigger all the time.”

 

My head turned, “really?” I crouched over and looked over his wound and saw that it was, in fact, getting bigger. “The druid’s magic is taking effect.”, I explained, “When I bandaged you up, it was to delay the effects, to get you stabilised. However, our encounter with the creatures made it worse, so it’s taking effect sooner rather than later.” I looked up to Shiro, “Just trying to lighten the mood.”

 

“Oh.”, realisation hitting me, “sorry.” I quickly crouched back to my spot and sat back down. “Hang in there.”, Keith said, “When Allura and Coran find us, they’ll fix you right up.” Shiro turned to me, “Can I have a moment with Keith please.”

 

“Course you can.”, I agreed, “I’ll be nearby if you need me.” I walked off to stand by the lions with my stuff on my back. I took out my C.M.S (Custom Made Scanner(Working title)) and scanned the upper atmosphere, looking for Shiro’s friends. 

 

After a few short ticks, the scanner picked up a sort of anomaly in the atmosphere. It was then that I noticed the green light shining from the sky. I ran back to Shiro and Keith as we saw a similar portal to earlier open up and reveal another lion. This time in green, my favourite colour.

 

“Right, here we go.”, I said.


	3. To the Castle of Lions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our heroes travel to a strange looking ship where the Doctor can heal Shiro.

The pilot of the green lion, a rather young looking boy with round glasses, was rather surprised upon seeing me as we came on board. Just like Keith. Shiro gave a quick summary of the events from earlier to him.

As he finished, the pilot gave a nod of acknowledgement and started up the lion for flight. As he flew, he’d occasionally sneak a glance or two at me. I was constantly checking on Shiro since there was no place for him to sit down and rest. The wound was slowly getting worse, he needed a pod as soon as possible or the wound might get to the point where it’s beyond help.

The lion went back through the portal it came out of; on the other side was a large ship that floated through space with a sort of elegance. It was shaped like a torpedo. Large cylindrical hull with a pointed end. Surrounding it were four similar white shapes. It had glass blue windows which were tinted so they can only be viewed through inside out. The lion contacted the ship telling the people on board to prepare for docking. From the conversation, it was easy to learn that the ship was called the ‘castle of lions’. Should’ve seemed obvious. As he communicated, he mentioned me. He said they were bringing a person called ‘the Doctor’ on board. He didn’t specify my species. That’s a good sign. He doesn’t need to warn people about me, that’s gotta be good.

As the doors opened slowly to allow access, my eyes glanced to the right to see a familiar glow from Shiro’s hand. “Shiro, what is that?”, I asked pointing at the hand in question. At the thought of it, his face seemed slightly depressed. It must’ve been bad. “It’s uh Galra tech.”, he said, “A year or so ago, I was a Galra prisoner. While there, I was chosen to be experimented on. This is the result.”

 

They actually did that? There were rumours in the barracks of potential interspecies experimentation, but I never knew they actually went through with it. “I thought they ran out of ways to make me sick?”, I breathed. He looked at me. “I’m sorry. That they did that to you. It was wrong and I’m sorry.”, I apologised.

“It’s not your fault.”, he replied. “But I could’ve tried to stop it. Instead, I just ran away.”, I lamented. “To help people.”, he countered, “Like me.” I nodded, “Thanks, that actually kinda helps.” He smiled but then he also released a sudden groan. I immediately looked down at the wound and saw that it was spreading at a faster rate.

I looked outside to see that we just about finished landing in the hangar. “Ok, Shiro”, I said, “We’re gonna get you into a pod now. Everything’s gonna be ok.” He nodded and groaned again as his eyes seemed to be slipping to sleep.

“No, no, no, no. Shiro, I need you to stay awake. I need you to stay awake.”, I told him. He tried to resist it but he seemed to be losing the battle. “Keith! I need a hand.”, I shouted. Keith came forward and saw Shiro in pain.

 

“We’re losing him.”, I informed him, “Do you know you’re way to the infirmary.” He nodded, he wrapped one of Shiro’s arms around his neck while the other was wrapped around mine. We hurried and exited the lion as Keith guided us to the infirmary. Once there, I was able to find the pods instant. Keith dragged Shiro inside the pod as I prepped it. 

I quickly pressed the start button and the machine activated. I quickly glanced at the monitors to see that he was stabilising yet again. Result! “He’ll be fine.”, I informed Keith, “For now, we should let him rest.” He nodded and backed away from the pod.

“He should be good for the next few vargas.”, I continued, “When he wakes up, I should be able to re-examine him and give him a clean bill of health.”

“If he doesn’t make it.”, Keith growled, “I’ll make sure that you pay personally for it.” “Well, good.”, I replied, “Because I think he’s definitely going to make it.” I couldn’t help but release a small giggle.

 

I made a small hum as I noticed a sound from behind. I turned and saw a sword heading straight for my face. I yelped as I took a step back and slipped in the process. As I backed up and looked up, I saw a woman standing in front of me with looks of hate in her eyes. She had frost white hair which was tied up in a big bun at the back of her head. She sported the colour of bright blue in her eyes and had pointed ears at the sides. 

Like the others, she wore a white uniform but this time, it had pink highlights. The most noticeable feature about her was the sickle-shaped markings which laid under her eyes with a light blue shade. She was instantly recognisable.

“Oh my word, you’re princess- AHHHH!”, I screamed as she attempted to strike again. “Whatever you’re doing here, get off this ship now!”, she ordered as she lowered the tip of the sword to my neck. Keith tried to stop her but she told him to back off.

“I-I-I’m afraid I can’t do that you’re highness.”, I stuttered. “Why not?”, she asked. “Because he’s the doctor.”, Keith said loudly. She turned to him. “And I can’t leave my patient.”, I said as she turned back toward me.

 

She once turned back to Keith looking for an explanation. “It’s a long story.”, was the only thing he said. She huffed and gave me a deathly stare like she was trying to put a curse on me. She then walked up to the pod and inspected the pilot inside. 

“Is he alright?”, she asks. I stand up and regain my composure. “That’s we’re hoping to find out after a few vargas.”, I answered. She didn’t respond; instead, she turned and stormed off out of the room. 

“She’s not a big fan of Galra.”, Keith said as the door slid shut behind her. “I don’t blame her.”, I commented, “After what Zarkon did to the Alteans, she has a right to hate my kind. They’re monsters.” My head shifted slightly down. 

“Yet you helped Shiro.”, he countered, “Why?” I looked at him. “Because I don’t want to be like them.”, I explained, “I don’t want bloodshed of innocent people. I want to help them.”

 

“So you’ve helped others?”, he asked me. I nodded, “Enough to start losing count.” 

“Were they afraid?”

They were absolutely terrified. “Most of them.”, I answered, “But some accepted my help, some were even curious as to why as I was helping them in the first place, like you. So I tell them what I’m telling you now.”

I walk back to check over on the pod. It reported that Shiro’s condition was definitely improving. “He’s doing a lot better so far.”, I told Keith, “That’s good. The process is usually slower than this.”

 

A couple of moments of silence passed. “Well!”, I said, “We can’t stand around here for the next few hours. Do you guys have anything to pass the time on this ship?”

“Not much.”, Keith said, “Come with me, but _don’t_ leave my sight.” I agreed and he we left the room as he guided me to an unknown room.

“Hey, where’s the other one by the way. The green pilot?”, I asked. “He’s probably gone to find the others.”, he responded. “There are more?”, I exclaimed, “How many of you are there?”

“There’s not that many of us.”, he answered, “Me, Shiro, Lance, Hunk and Pidge. That’s if you exclude Allura and Coran.”

 

I thought back to the tense event that happened between the mentioned girl and me earlier. “Oh yeah, I never asked.”, I commented, “How is Princess Allura here? I thought she died with the rest of the Alteans which, even if she did survive, was thousands of years ago. She’d have died by now.”

I gasped, “Does she have immortality? Does she not age? Does she have some sort of time travelling ability?” Keith looked at me like as if trying to see if I was real. “No”, he said, “More like cryogenic stasis.”

I let out a drawn-out ‘oh’ as I slapped myself. “Of course.”, I grinned, “The cryogenic stasis pods are said to last for as long as eternity, and they’re extremely durable. It’d be like a lifeboat from a situation such as that. Amazing!”

Keith unlocked a door which revealed a bedroom. It was a simple one; bed, desk, lights, mirror. “What are we doing here?”, I asked him as he stood to the side. “This is where you’re staying until Shiro is officially ok.”, he answered. I walked into the room and instantly heard the whoosh of the door closing. I tried unlocking it but it denied me access. I tried calling for Keith but he didn’t answer. I sat down on the bed and sighed.

 

Why do the people who save me always have to keep me prisoner? 


	4. A familar place, a familar face. (Season 2 Episode 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Doctor returns to Shiro, he and the paladins immediately find themselves in a new mystery buried in Shiro's arm. It'll take them to a place that's all too familiar to the Doctor, but what or who else is there?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a short delay in the upload, I'm currently on holiday so getting time to edit the chapter has been a bit difficult. To make up for it, the chapter is nice and long with over 6000 words. Booyah! Regardless, please enjoy this new chapter.

 

I couldn’t tell how long it’d been since I was locked in my quarters or bedrooms or whatever you call a bedroom on a spaceship. I distracted myself by having a snack or two as well as playing a game of Simon says with myself. 

It was easy, it was like I knew what Simon was thinking. Haha, ha….ha. Lame joke. Got it. Eventually, I found myself on my bed now worrying about my patient’s condition. I swear, when I get out of here, I’m gonna smack, Keith. 

Suddenly, the door slid open and in the doorway stood a new human. This time, he had lightly tanned skin tone with short brown hair on his head. He wore a blue highlighted uniform. 

“Um, hello.”, I waved to the guy. “Hi.”, he replied, “I’m Lance. Nice to meet you.” “Same here.”, I said, “Is something wrong?”

 

“No.”, he answered, “Shiro was wondering where you were so I came to get you.” “He’s out of the pod?!”, I yelped, “Take me to him, quickly.”

I grabbed his hand and began to run in the directions he pointed. Eventually, we found Shiro with the others. With them was a yellow highlighted uniform wearing guy. He looked really nice. Shiro had something connected to his arm which ran into a computer which was stationed next to him and Pidge. 

As we stopped, I panted as I took a quick breather. “I really need to work out more.”, I muttered. I lifted my head up to see everyone staring at me and Lance. “Sorry, we’re late.”, I said as I walked up to Shiro.

“How did you get out of the room?”, Keith questioned. “Through the door, how else would I get out?”, I retorted. 

 

“I asked for him.”, Shiro said. “And now I’m here.”, I continued. I took out my CMS and took a quick scan of his body. 

I looked down at the screen and reported the results, “Good news everyone, there is officially no trace of witch’s magic. Shiro is perfectly healthy.”

“Good”, Allura interrupted, “Sooner you finish, sooner you leave.” It was easy to detect the hint of glee in her voice at the idea of my soon departure. “Just gonna ignore that.”, I thought. The only response I gave was a roll of the eyes.

“So what’s going on in here anyway?”, I asked moving away from any more potential insults from the Princess. “While I was in the pod, I remembered how I escaped from the Galra.”, Shiro explained, “There was a traitor who helped me escape, he said that I should be able to find him again if I follow the coordinates in my arm.”

 

“I’m not finding any co-ordinates in here though.”, Pidge said, “Are you sure this wasn’t a dream?” “I’m positive.”, Shiro stated, “Someone helped me escape.” “And he was Galra?”, Allura questioned.

Shiro nodded. “Well, it’s a Galran ship filled with thousands of Galra. I don’t know, maybe it was an Olkari instead.”, I added. She gave me a quick glare before returning back to Shiro.

“You know you mustn’t trust them.”, she retorted. I gritted my teeth as I thought, “Why you little slug.” “Your father must’ve trusted them once.”, Shiro countered, “Zarkon _was_ the original Black Paladin, wasn’t he?”

“Nice one Shiro”, I thought as I smiled at his counter. However, everyone else reacted with a gasp. Something told me they didn’t know about that.

 

Allura let her head fall slightly, “That was a long time ago.” She’s right. Remembering back to school, we were taught about how Zarkon defended the universe with his friends in mechanical lions. I thought it was like a children’s fairy tale to make him look good, apparently, I might be wrong. I never paid much attention in history.

“Wait, what?”, Lance said in surprise. “Didn’t you see how he stole the Black Lion right out from under Shiro?”, Keith added, “Or that he could do all that cool stuff with his bayard? Shiro’s bayard? You know, the black one?”

I looked to Allura. She looked angry yet she seemed to feel more ashamed. “Why didn’t you just tell us the truth about Zarkon?”, Shiro asked her.

“I wanted to protect you from the dark history of the paladins.”, she explained, “So that you would have a chance to bond with your lions on your own.” To be honest, I couldn’t blame her. If my friend became the enemy I fought today, I’d be pretty ashamed of the past too.

 

“You’re the Black Paladin now, not Zarkon.”, Allura stated. “Yeah, well, the Black Lion may have a different take on the matter.”, Shiro said. What does that mean? Before I could ask, Pidge interrupted, “Wait a second, I think I see it now.”

We looked to the laptop screen. “Some repeating numbers in all this Galra code.”, Pidge continued, “Let me extract it.” I examined the code closely. “He’s right”, I confirmed, “Every line, the same number appears every few ticks.”

A larger screen then projected in front of us with the numbers. “They’re co-ordinates.”, Pidge said,“They lead here: the Thaldycon system.” An image of the system appeared on the screen.

I remembered the system. When I was just a kid, my mom and my uncle would take me there as an annual visit. It was completely empty, meaning we had the place to ourselves. We stopped going there once Uncle left for the army. It wasn’t long after until I followed and left Mom.

 

My head lowered slightly at the thought. “Then, that’s where we’re headed.”, Shiro stated bringing me back to the present. “Shiro, are you sure you can trust this?”, Keith interjected, “After all the Galra did to you.—They—they took your arm.”

“It’s worth the risk.”, Shiro countered, “Someone helped me escape.” “If we can locate some allies in our fight against Zarkon, especially from his own side, we might just find a way to take him down.”, Shiro explained.

“Well said.”, I commented, “Plus, in a reign like Zarkon’s, there’s bound to be people who are against it. Like me.” Again I was sent a glare by Keith and Allura. “We can check the location but I do not like this.”, Allura said, “The Galra are not to be trusted.”

“Whatever.”, I murmured. “Let’s get to the bridge.”, Shiro said. As everyone made their way towards the bridge, I pulled back Shiro a bit to talk.

 

“Are you alright?”, I asked him. “Yeah, I’m fine.”, Shiro answered. I examined him again just to make sure he was absolutely alright. “Hey.”, he said, “I’m sorry for what the others did, it wasn’t right.” 

“Well, it’s not their fault really.”, I said, “Most Galra in the universe are on Zarkon’s side; I’m sure they were just taking precautions.”

“Still doesn’t make it right.”, Shiro countered. I look up to him. “Yeah, but what’s done is done.”, I said, “The best thing we can do right now is to move on.”

“How are you so happy?”, he asked me, “After what Allura and Keith did.” “Because it’s the best way to live.”, I answered, “And there’s a lot of things to be happy about in the universe. The people, the technology, the planets. The beauty.”

 

“You make it sound easy to be happy all the time.”, he commented. “Well, I’ve had a lot of practice over the years. If you’re happy, people can trust you more. Helps with patients as well.”

He smiled, “Guess it works.” I returned the smile. “You know something, I’ve actually been to the Thaldycon system before.”, I said. “Really?”, he asked. “Yeah, I used to do regular visits there with my mom when I was a kid, it was one of our favourite places. We’d also go with uncle because he knew the system; he was a terrific guide. However, we stopped coming when I was in medical school.”

“What happened?”, Shiro asked me. “Well, uncle left to fight for the empire.”, I explained, “Unfortunately, if you didn’t go it meant death. Haven’t heard from him since.” Shiro apologised. “Don’t be sorry.”, I said, “I like to think that he’s having wonderful nights having fun with friends he’s made during his time there.”

“Anyway!”, I said, “What are we doing here, the others are waiting, come on.” 

 

We went to the bridge as Allura and the paladins started piloting the Castle to the coordinates. They opened a portal like the one on that moon which granted instant travel to the Thaldycon system. As we arrived, we immediately found the clusters of shining xanthorium which made up a huge part of the system. It’s beauty never decreased over the years.

“Well, this is it.”, the moustached one said (I think his name’s Coran), “No sign of any activity at all, living or otherwise.” Shiro asked if we could get close, but Coran said that we can’t due to the unstable elements in the ores. It was safer to stay back.

Shiro, like the rest of us, was confused. The coordinates lead here, no question; but there was no sign of anyone or anything here. Unless…

“What if he’s hiding?”, I asked, “Some sort of cloaking technology, they were given to some of the Galra’s best soldiers. If you can combine that with clusters of highly unstable xanthorium, you could hide in there forever.”

 

“Pidge, could you check?”, Shiro asked. “Doing it now.”, Pidge replied. After a few moments, he replied, “I’m not picking up anything.”

“We’ve checked it out, but now, it’s time to move on.”, Allura said. Shiro disagreed, he thought that we should wait. We did. We waited, and waited, and waited. But still, there was no sign of Shiro’s friend.

During this time, Shiro was examining each cluster individually to see if he could find any bit of evidence of his friend. He didn’t find anything. However, alarms suddenly started going off as Coran announced an intruder in the castle.

Allura scanned the security footage and found the intruder on level five. Shiro called for everyone to suit up to prepare for our new friend. Everyone was stationed at different points to try and intercept him. I was with Shiro. As everyone tried to intercept him, Coran started playing commentator to our efforts.

 

Lance found the intruder first but he couldn’t stop him. Next was Pidge, who ended up being dragged by his bayard. Hunk (as I’ve learned his name) just shooted blindly as they ran past. Keith had a chance though, he looked like a guy who can beat down in a fight. Shiro and I were hiding in the sides of the hallway, ready to launch a surprise ambush if he makes it past Keith.

We watched the intruder as he crouched on the ground, keeping Keith’s sword back with his own. As he lifted the sword, I saw an insignia on the hilt of the sword and my eyes widened.

“It can’t be.”, I whispered. “What is it?”, Shiro asked. “I know that blade.”, I answered, “And he shouldn’t have it.”

The intruder knocked the sword out of Keith’s hand and as it cluttered to the ground, the intruder pulled Pidge’s bayard sending said boy into Keith, knocking them both to the ground. Keith got back up and made another attempt at him. However, the intruder being fast as he is, grabbed Keith and threw him into Lance and Hunk.

 

Our turn.

 

As the intruder was focused on the three paladins on the ground, Shiro and I snuck up behind him and got into a fighting stance. He had his arm and I had my stun gun (non-lethal for the win). The intruder turned and saw us and was about to make a move when Shiro held his arm to the intruder’s neck and me pointing my gun at his abdomen. 

We both kept stern glances at the intruder as everyone wondered what was going to happen. However, instead of a fight, the intruder slowly lowered his weapon. As he stood upright, he undid his hood and turned off his mask.

“Oh, my word.”, I whispered. “Ulaz?”, Shiro gasped. Before we could continue, Allura ran past us and pushed Ulaz to the wall.

“Who are you?”, she questioned. “Stop! It’s him! This is the Galra who set me free.”, Shiro said. “Annnnndddd”, I added, “He’s my uncle.” They both looked at me in disbelief. The next thing that was said came from Uncle Ulaz, “You’ve come. Both of you.”

 

* * *

In a sort of living room, Uncle Ulaz was sat down with handcuffs on his wrists and ankles. I just came in with a glass of water with Hunk following behind me as they were talking with him.

“Here you go, Uncle.”, I said as I helped him take a sip. “Thank you, Zas.” So much for keeping identity a secret.

“When you released me, you also mentioned that there were others working with you.”, Shiro mentioned. “Yes. We are called the Blade of Marmora.”, he answered.

“I remember them.”, I said, “Mom would always talk about them, a rebel group fighting against Zarkon.” “Uh, others?”, Hunk squeaked, “Are they here?” Lance looked at him. “Hunk can you try not to act so scared around the chained up prisoner?”, he asked, “It makes us look lame.”

 

I roll my eyes. “I’m alone on this base.”, Ulaz said. “What is this base you’re talking about?”, Allura questioned him, “Shiro’s co-ordinates just led us to this wasteland.”

“The base is hidden.”, Uncle Ulaz responded, “Now that I know that it is Shiro that has come, you are welcome to our outpost.” Uncle Ulaz said that it was front of the clusters, hidden in a small pocket of space-time. Allura asked Coran to check for it, to which he responded that a small anomaly appeared on the screen. 

“Of course.”, I said, “Creating a fold in space-time, you can make a small pocket to hide in. It would be virtually undetectable by normal scans unless you focused on the specific area. Brilliant!” 

Allura was against it, still thinking it was a trap. However, Shiro said that we can’t turn away when we’re so close to answers. Everyone else doubted it. “I agree with Shiro.”, I said, “Plus, I trust Uncle Ulaz.” 

 

“You don’t get a say in this.”, Allura said. “Ulaz freed me. Without him, we wouldn’t be here.”, Shiro said. Allura said nothing for a tick before giving in. 

“Slow and steady Coran”, she said, “Head for the xanthorium cluster.” Coran announced the approach and before long counted down the imminent impact.

“Come on, come on, come on.”, I thought as he counted down to one. Suddenly, everything jerked as we hit something. 

“Well, that’s something.”, Coran said. “What is it?”, Allura asked. Coran put the view on the screen. It was a wormhole path.

 

“Amazing. They’re folding space.”, Pidge said. “It’s like a space taco.”, Hunk said, “Or a space calzone.” I tuned him out as he went on about dumplings and cafeterias. 

The view soon changed and in front of us was a base. It looked amazing. It wasn’t like any Galra design I’ve seen. The Blade of Marmora must’ve made their own ships.

“Welcome to the Blade of Marmora communications base Thaldycon.”, Uncle Ulaz said, “Now if you’ll free me, I need to send a message to the leadership. They need to know I’ve made contact with Voltron.”

Allura turned to Shiro, “Go with him and keep an eye on him. I’m staying here.” “Oooh! Can we go?”, Hunk asked. “I want to see how they make the space pocket!”, Pidge burst in excitement with stars in his eyes. “I’m coming too.”, I said.

 

“You guys go ahead.”, Lance said, “I’ll hang back and protect the princess.” “Ugh…”, Allura groaned. Shiro freed Uncle Ulaz and we all made our way to the red lion. As we flew closer to the station, Uncle Ulaz pointed to a glowing orb at the top of the base.

“This is the gravity generator that creates the space-time fold that hides the station.”, he explained, “It was created by a reclusive genius engineer named Slav.”

“His technology allows the Blade of Marmora to remain hidden, while we work to take down the Galra Empire.”, he continued, “Zarkon would do anything to get his hands on this technology.”

“There are Galra out there that aren’t loyal to Zarkon?”, Keith asked. “As made obvious by examples 1 and 2.”, I answered pointing at me and Uncle Ulaz. 

 

“We thought expanding the Galra empire would bring stability.”, Ulaz said, “We learned too late, a tyrant doesn’t seek stability, only power.”

 

* * *

We stood in the bridge of the base as Uncle Ulaz was working at his console. I looked back and saw Keith staring at the gravity generator.

“With our members working on the inside, planning coordinate attacks with Voltron, we may finally have a chance.”, he said. “So you have agents working in Zarkon’s ranks?” 

“How do you think you got away from Zarkon in that last fight?”, Ulaz asked, “Do you think those shields around Zarkon’s command centre went down on their own?”

He turned towards me, “How do you think you were able to stay well hidden after you escaped?” He was watching me, he and the Blade of Marmora were watching me. I always thought life in the shadows was easy, but I never knew it was because of this.

 

“We’ve got people risking their lives in this war, just like you.”, Ulaz continued. “If you have people on the inside, can they tell me where my family is?”, Pidge asked, “They were taken the same time Shiro was.”

Uncle Ulaz said he knew about other Earth prisoners, but he never saw them. He offered to transmit some Galra prisoner records to the ship. As he did so, I noticed Keith glancing at the sword on Uncle Ulaz’s back.

“What’s that weapon you carry?”, Keith asked. Uncle Ulaz unsheathed it and presented it. “It’s a ceremonial blade, that each member of our order carries.”, Ulaz explained.

“Hmm, nice.”, Keith commented. “Wait.”, I said, “Was Mom a member too?” “She still is.”, Uncle Ulaz answered, “One of our best.”

 

Suddenly an alarm blared and an image presenting the outside of the pocket appeared showing something approaching the system.

“Oh no.”, Uncle Ulaz said.

“What’s that?”, I asked. “A Galra ship.”, Uncle Ulaz answered, “You were tracked.” “What, us?”, Pidge asked. “If Zarkon knows we’re here, it’s because you ratted us out.”, Keith accused. “Uncle Ulaz would never do that.”, I defended him.

We heard a strange sound and saw the ship open up to reveal some sort of large mechanical robot. “It’s another one of Zarkon’s robot…beasts…ro-beasts!”, Hunk said. “We have to get back to the ship.”, Shiro said.

 

“Shiro, wait!”, Uncle Ulaz interjected. He took out a sort of storage unit. “These are instructions on how to reach the Blade of Marmora headquarters.”, he explained, “Before you go there, find out how Zarkon is tracking you.”

“If you lead him there, our entire underground network, everything we’ve spent centuries building, will be lost.”, he finished. Shiro gently took the unit and nodded and began to lead everyone out. I looked back to see Uncle Ulaz still at his console.

“Uncle Ulaz, come on.”, I urged him. “I have to stay here and keep the base secure.”, he said, “You go.” I glance back at the robot on screen before looking back at Uncle Ulaz. 

I ran to him and enveloped him in a hug. “First sign of trouble.”, I said, “You get back to the ship.”

 

“Of course”, he agreed. As I let go, he gave me one of his rare smiles which I returned. I quickly caught up with the others and we immediately set off for the castle. 

“I knew he cannot be trusted”, Allura said. “It wasn’t him.”, Me and Shiro said at the same time. “How can you be sure?”, she retorted.

“It doesn’t matter now.”, Coran interjected, “What should we do?” Hunk suggested we hide in the space-time fold, so Shiro ordered everyone to their lions but to remain stationary. I got into th black lion with Shiro. My knowledge from the army may be useful with the robot.

We observed the creature as it was scanning the clusters, looking for the Castle of Lions. “We should be safe as long as we’re hidden in the space pocket.”, Pidge said

 

We saw the robot open it’s mouth as it began to glow with a large pink aura. As it did, many of the xanthorium clusters began to move towards the robot, as if caught in a vacuum. The clusters just flew right into its mouth. As it finished, it opened it’s mouth again, giving a similar glow. This time though, it shot out a large high-powered energy beam at the clusters.

The effect was instantaneous. The clusters started exploding, dozens at a time in the wake of the robot’s destruction. I remember this technique; destroy the hiding place, so they can’t hide. 

“He’s trying to destroy the system.”, I said, “Making sure we have nowhere to hide.” As we continued to observe it, scans indicated that it’s locked onto something. “It’s found the pocket!”, I exclaimed.

“Hold.”, Shiro said as we saw the creature begin another attack. As it fired, most of the shots deflected off the pocket, but a couple of them still got through. 

 

“He definitely knows we’re here.”, Coran confirmed. Allura and Coran raised a particle barrier around the castle to protect us. However, my mind was drawn back to the communications base. Uncle Ulaz was still in there.

The ships and in turn, the lions continuously shook as we could still feel the shots bounce off the barrier. After a tick, it stopped. I took a quick breath to regain myself. But that was all I got as the robot began to draw in more clusters, this time pulling the castle in as well.

“Paladins, I think it’s time to launch.”, Allura said. 

Shiro nodded and exclaimed, “Form Voltron!” I couldn’t see what was happening outside, but I could definitely feel something shifting within the lion. As the shifting stopped, I looked outside and saw that the cockpit was now the head of a large mechanical body. The lions all seemed to make up part of it. Yellow and Blue Lions on legs. Green and Red Lions on arms and Black Lion on top.

 

“Now that’s awesome.”, I commented as we sped forward out of the fold and right into the robot. Voltron hit said robot with a sword from the Red Lion, knocking the robot off its axis and sending the beam away from the fold. Yes!

Then, something else appeared on the scanner, I looked behind us and could see that the space fold was gone. “We’re exposed!”, Allura exclaimed. We then detected a small ship leaving the station and heading off. 

“Well, there goes Ulaz.”, Coran observed. “I knew we should never trust a Galra.”, Allura growled. I couldn’t take it anymore, I switched off communications with Allura. The connection with the Castle and Coran though was still intact. 

“I’m sorry.”, I apologised. I look to my left and saw Shiro give me a sympathetic look. “We gotta concentrate on the battle.”, I said as we went back to the fight. Voltron continuously punched and kicked and swayed its sword at the robot, but it seemed to have minimal effect.

 

Then, the robot slowly turned away from us and began to suck in more clusters. “He’s pulling in more ammo.”, Pidge observed.

“Move, move, move!”, Shiro ordered as Voltron dashed out of the way of the incoming beam. The beam was following us though, leading to a chase through the system. Xanthorium clusters were exploding all around us, causing Voltron to shake and sway as it struggled to avoid it.

Eventually, the beam stopped and we could rest. “If we can lead the robot away from the system.”, I suggested, “We can stop it from recharging.” Shiro nodded and ordered for reverse boosters.

As we stopped though, we were immediately caught in the pink glow of the vacuum from the robot. “It’s got a hold of us.”, I stated as we were being pulled in. Voltron tried to fly away, but instead, we crashed into xanthorium clusters which exploded and knocked us closer to the robot.

 

“This thing wants to eat us like we’re a space taco!”, Hunk commented. The robot grabbed a hold of Voltron’s legs and arms as it tried to drag us in. “Can’t get free.”, Shiro groaned as we tried to reverse as much as possible. 

“I’ll make him back off.”, Keith stated as we saw the Red Lion grow some sort of mini swords from its mouth. Cool. The Lion strikes at the robot, allowing it to let us go. Voltron immediately dashed away before the robot could recover. 

“We’ve got to keep some distance between us and that ro-beast!”, Shiro informed us. “We’re actually calling it a ro-beast?”, I asked, “Never mind, stupid question, keep going.” The ro-beast (I guess) was following us now, releasing short burst attacks. It exploded nearby clusters which banged us about. 

Regardless of it, we flew out of the destruction, only to be caught in the vacuum again. Voltron tried reversing but it was no use.

 

“I’m burning thrusters at full capacity and it’s not making any difference.”, Lance said. It’s no use. The ro-beast is pulling us in.

“What do we do?!”, I asked. As we got close to the ro-beast, a sudden blast appears and separates us from the ro-beast. 

Allura was asking if everyone was all right. Lance said he wasn’t alright but he was still alive. Can’t tell if that’s a normal expression or a joke. I heard grunts from the comms and looked to see the Castle stuck in the tractor beam. 

“We need some to stop its tractor beam.”, Pidge said. “What if we blocked the beam, it wouldn’t affect the castle any more.”, I suggested. Shiro was already on it. “Pidge, form shield.”, he ordered. The green lion instantly formed a massive shield that was perfect. Voltron flew forward and jammed the shield in its mouth. 

 

“We’ve bought some time.”, I beamed. Voltron punched the ro-beast, knocking it off its axis and sending it spinning. 

Keith asked what do we do next, to which Shiro replied with that we were going on the offensive. Pidge then suggested we use the xanthorium clusters against the ro-beast.

Voltron used the shield to push the ro-beast into a large cluster and backed away from the blast radius. The cluster exploded loud and proud as it spread to a few of the nearby clusters. We smiled. “Get in.”, I said. 

Suddenly, a large red beam shot out of the explosion. Instantly the shield was up but the beam sent us flying as we defended ourselves. Everyone yelled and I was knocked to the floor.

 

“The shield can’t handle this much power.”, Pidge informed us. As I tried to get up, I was knocked back down as the shield was knocked out of Voltron’s hands and we were sent spinning. Even the cockpit was spinning.

“I think I’m gonna hurl.”, I groaned as we finally regained control. As I stood up, Voltron was caught a third time in the tractor beam. It was obvious to everyone that we can’t hold on much longer.

“We might not be strong enough to beat this thing.”, Hunk said. “Don’t say things like that.”, I replied, “It’s bad for morale.”

“Hang on!”, a familiar voice sounded in Voltron. “Ulaz.”, Shiro and I said at the same time. I went to the window and saw Uncle Ulaz’s ship from earlier carrying the gravity generator.

 

“I’m going to take it down from the inside.”, he explained. “Ulaz, no. Let us handle this.”, Shiro told him. “Please Uncle Ulaz, it’s dangerous.”, I added.

“Voltron is too valuable.”, Ulaz argued, “The universe needs you.” “But that doesn’t mean you’re not valuable too.”, I replied. 

“Zas, I have seen you so much for the people of this universe.”, he said, “Never stop doing that….Be a doctor.”

He was too close to pull out. “UNCLE ULAZ!”, I screamed. He flew into the mouth which snapped shut. Nothing happened for a few minutes. It felt as how time slowed down. I couldn’t stop it, I let the tears flow as I slumped down to the floor. I felt a soothing hand rub up and down on my back. I looked to my left to see Shiro crouched next to me. “I’m so sorry Zas”, he consoled. I nodded and just leaned into his touch and he enveloped me in a comforting hug as I cried.

 

Suddenly though, we heard a roar as the ro-beast was heading straight for us. “I’ll be right back.”, Shiro told me as he sat down in his chair and I leaned on the wall, still covered in tears.

“Get ready!”, Shiro said as Voltron got into a fighting stance. What happened next though, was that the ro-beast stopped. It looked irritated. We saw sparks of purple fly about it as it seemed to be collapsing in on itself.

“Ulaz opened up the space pocket from inside.”, Pidge explained, “It’s falling in on itself!” The creature got smaller and smaller as it seemed to crunch up into a pile of rubbish until there was nothing left but a small purple glimmer.

“He did it.”, I whispered. “Ulaz did it.”, Hunk repeated. “He saved us.”, Keith added.

 

“He’s…gone.”, Shiro lamented as he turned back and we caught each other’s eyes in sympathy. Everyone flew back to the castle in silence, no one bothering to say a word. We all headed to our individual rooms to debrief and get back into normal clothes. 

Me. I’m not even sure if I was thinking about anything at all during that time, haven’t felt sadness for a long time. It can be a little bit surprising when it comes back, but we gotta keep going.

As I laid there, just staring at the ceiling. I heard a knock at the door. I quickly wiped my face and opened the door to see Shiro standing there.

“Um, uh, Hi.”, I greeted him as he returned it. “Listen, I’ve experienced loss before.”, Shiro said, “And every time, I have learned that it’s better to not go through it alone.”

 

“Having friends and family do help.”, I agreed, forcing a small giggle. “So, I was wondering if you wanted to join me.”, he asked me. “Yeah”, I sniffed, “I’d really like that. Thank you.”

He guided me through many hallways which I’ve yet to learn until we reached a green illuminated room. In it was a window that showed the clusters of the Thaldycon system in which we fought with the ro-beast just a short while ago. 

“You said that you come here with Ulaz and your mother?”, Shiro asked. I nodded, “We’d come here every deca-phoebe to explore the clusters and spend a quintet or two there. A nice break from everything going on in the universe; like a zone of tranquillity of sorts.”

“Sounds like you had good times.”, he inferred. “Yeah. One year when I was 8 deca-phoebes old, every night we were here, my mother would make up bedtime stories about us and the Thaldycon system.”, I told him, “One involved space pirates, another involved time travel and another…where I found love.”

 

“A romance story?”, he asked. I nodded, “It was one of my favourites. I’d find a stranger wandering the system, they’re so beautiful. We’d go on an adventure to find treasure to help the stranger’s home. However, when we find it, we realise the greatest treasure to find…is love.” I smiled, “Bit cliche, but it’s a wonderful bedtime story.”

“I bet it was.”, Shiro smiled with me. I took a shivering breath as I think about how Uncle Ulaz would tell me his stories about the Blade of Marmora. I thought they were made up, but he’s actually a member, who knew.

“I just can’t believe he’s gone.”, I whisper as my head lowers. Shiro stepped closer, “He did it to save us, and you.” I nodded, “At least this is his resting place, he loved the Thaldycon system most out of our trio.” We both smiled. 

“You know, I made a promise when I started running all those deca-phoebes ago.”, I continued, “To help anyone I can, in whatever way I can. It seems that by helping bring down Zarkon, I help save everyone.”

 

“Taking him down would surely bring an end to all this destruction.”, Shiro said, “We’re accepting of anyone who wants to help in our cause. Do you wanna help?” 

“Hmmmmmm, it depends.”, I replied. “On what?”, Shiro asked. “If you might have an extra space on this team.”, I answered, “Because it’s come to my attention that you guys are lacking a medical officer.”

He smiled, “We’d be happy to have you aboard.” He stuck his hand out, “Welcome to Voltron.” I smiled and shook his hand, “Thank you…sir.” We both let out a giggle. 

We heard the door open and saw Keith walk in. “Can you give us a minute?”, Shiro asked. I nodded but as I was about to leave. I was interrupted. “Actually, Zas can you stay here.”, Keith asked, “There’s something I need to say.”

 

I glanced at Shiro and back to Keith before walking back to Shiro’s side.

“I’m sorry we doubted Ulaz.”, Keith apologised, “He saved all our lives.” I smiled and thanked him. “But I still have so many questions.”, Shiro replied. 

“And we’ll find them.”, I said, “Together.” We heard the door open again, this time revealing Princess Allura.

“Do you really think Zarkon is tracking us?”, Keith asked. “We cannot know for sure.”, Allura said, “Only Ulaz knew our whereabouts.”

 

“You don’t really think Ulaz gave us up?”, Shiro asked her, “After he sacrificed himself?” “Yeah! Maybe Zarkon could’ve found this place on his own.”, Keith backed it up, “He’s probably been searching for the Blade of Marmora.” 

Allura kept a stern face. “It’s clear the loss of Ulaz has caused you great concern.”, Allura said, “But, regardless of how Zarkon tracked us, we cannot stay here any longer. It isn’t safe.” The way she talked wasn’t like the princess you’d hear about in the stories. She talked more like a soldier. She has a clear hatred for the Galra, but perhaps it’s worse than I thought.

“She’s right.”, I said, “The ro-beast was probably sent to weaken us to make it easier for Zarkon to take the Black Lion.”

“We should meet up with the rest of Ulaz’s group.”, Keith suggested, “Finish what we started.” “No.”, Kiro stated, “We’re not going to the headquarters until we figure out how Zarkon is tracking us. We can’t risk losing our only allies in this war.”

 

“He’s right.”, I agreed, “Voltron’s strong, but it can still be beaten. We’ll need all the help we can get.” 

“Since when have you become a part of ‘we’?”, Allura asked. I smirked, “Since I’ve become your new chief medical officer.” 

Allura’s mouth opened slightly. “Since when?”, she growled. “Since I allowed him”, Shiro spoke up, “We need allies. Zas has information about the Galra from his time in the military as well as viable medical knowledge. He’ll make a good addition to the team.”

I just wanted to go ‘awwwww’ at this point but managed to suppress it. Allura just glared and stomped away. Keith quickly followed without a word. Leaving me and Shiro by ourselves.

 

“You trust me.”, I say, “In just a quintent, you allowed me to heal you, to help you fight and now I’m on your team.”

“How are you so quick to trust me?”, I whispered as I look at him. “Because…”, Shiro said, “Because most Galra would’ve killed me, you healed me. In my book, that says a lot. (AN: I tried coming up with a poetic reason, but this was the best I could come up with.)”

I smiled and began walking to the door. “I think I might head off to bed.”, I grinned, “We’ve got a long journey ahead.”

I quickly turn back.“Good night Shiro.”, I said. He smiled, “Good night, Zas.” I exited the room and began to walk through the hallways to my room, feeling a great wave of excitement for what the universe had in store for me.

 

As I walked forward, I suddenly felt the warmness of a familiar feeling aura. I look around but don’t notice anything. All I could see was the door to Keith’s room, but that was it.

 

I shrugged it off and walked back to my room.

 

“All right, universe.”, I say to myself, “Here we come.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right quick, I would really appreciate your guy's thoughts and feedback on this fanfic, as it helps me know if I'm doing things right or wrong. All right, see you guys later, bye!


	5. A story, a chat and a memory (2x03-2x04)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As our heroes rest to make repairs to the ship, the Doctor decides to get to know everyone better and learn more about them.

“I’m bored!”, I exclaim to no one as I sit up in my bed.

 

It had been a quintet or so since we departed from the Thaldycon system; during that time, my membership to the team was officially announced. Everyone took to it quite well, except for Allura and Coran.

 

Oh well, I’ll just have to find a way to show them that they can trust me. I even managed to get my own uniform; it was like the paladins except mine was highlighted with a wonderful shade of purple. Apart from that, the team was taking a quick break to conduct repairs to fix up the damage done by the ro-beast. Everyone was needed to make sure repairs were conducted as quickly as possible. Ever since the discovery of Zarkon tracking us, the team has taken as many precautions as possible to stay ahead of him and find out how he’s tracking us.

 

Starting on the inside, everyone separated to work on different sections of the castle.I, however, pretty much ended up in my room. I had a lack of basic mechanical knowledge compared to the others so I was pretty much useless in that area. Since I was still new, I couldn’t think of much to do, again. Eventually, I wound up watching the clock as it counted each tick of the waste of time I was having sitting here.

 

Going tick…tick…tick…tick.

 

That didn’t really work out well. “It’s settled.”, I announce to myself, “I’m going to socialise.” I stepped out and immediately remembered, I still don’t know my way around this castle. Oh well, I’ll just wander around and talk with who I come across first. And so my adventure around the castle begins.

 

As I walk I hear mechanical sounds and the clanging of tools from the room to my left. I immediately stand in front of the door. Here we go. I take a step forward and the door whooshes open to reveal a room covered in pipes among pipes. From a first glance, it was easy to tell this was the engine room.

 

Hiding behind the steaming hisses of the engines were Pidge, who looked like he was completing a diagnostic with his laptop of the engine’s systems.

 

“Hello, Pidge.”, I greeted him, “Are you busy?” He looked up and shook his head. “Not really.”, he answered, “Just finishing up some final adjustments on the engine. What’s up?” “After everyone split up to work on the ship, I went back to my room since I’m more of a doctor than an engineer.”, I replied, “After a while, I felt bored and so I’ve come to socialise and get to know the team better, and you’re the first one I’m talking to.”

 

“Great.”, Pidge said in a sarcastic way. “Oh, come on.”, I scoffed, “Let’s have a talk and get to know each other better.”

 

I made a thinking face for a few ticks. “I know.”, I beamed, “How’d you meet the team, how’d you get involved with all this?”

 

He looked up from his laptop. “Do you want the short version or the long version?”, Pidge asked. “I like to think that the long version will have you talking most.”, I answer. He sighed, “Well, at first, I met Hunk and Lance. We attended the same school to enter the garrison and we met through training.”

 

“One night, they caught me listening to alien chatter.”, he continued. “Why were you listening to chatter?”, I asked. He took a moment to consider his answer. “Because I was looking for someone that was lost.” “I’m sorry.”, I apologised, “Were you close with them? The person you were looking for, I mean?” He looked down back to his laptop, “Yeah… you could say that.” I saw his eyes shift slightly to look at a picture on his screen that showed a boy and girl who looked a lot like Pidge.

 

“Are they your family?”, I point at the image. He glanced at me and nodded. “They-They look really friendly.”, I comment, “Do you visit them often?”

 

“No”, he said. It was easy to connect the dots from there. “Were they the ones you were looking for on the roof that night?” “Yeah. They were.”, Pidge mumbled.

 

He sniffed and continued on with his story. “Shortly after Lance and Hunk found me, we saw something crash down from the sky. We went to check it out, and that’s how we found Shiro.”

 

“He crashed?”, I asked. “Shiro had just escaped from the Galea and came to warn us about them.”, Pidge explained.

 

I remembered that, Shiro said he used to be a Galra prisoner, that was how he got his arm. “He was being quarantined by some scientists. It’s standard that whenever one of our astronauts go to space, they’re disinfected of any possible alien bacteria they may have brought back with them.”

 

“Makes sense.”, I said. He nodded, “As they strapped him down, we saw the door open and there was Keith. He beat up the doctors and took Shiro with him, with our help.”

 

“What happened then?”, I asked. “Keith took us to this farmhouse in the middle of nowhere.”

, he replied, “Apparently, he felt something draw him to that place. He said that he found a strong… _feeling_ of sorts around a cave which was covered in markings, resembling the Blue Lion.”

 

“Talk about x marking the spot.”, I commented. “Long story short, we found the lion, it took us to the castle and that’s when we found Allura and we got to meet. You happy?”

 

“Partly”, I replied, “I’m happy because I managed to get you talking, but I’m also sad how you lost your family. I know how you feel.” He looked at me questioningly, “You do?”

 

“Yeah!”, I exclaim. I sighed, “I never even knew my dad. My mom fell in love with a man from another world; it was not frowned upon technically, but what went wrong was that my mom had an unplanned pregnancy (AKA me). To protect my dad, Mom left him on his home planet as she returned home before giving birth. Don’t even know his name.”

 

“I’m sorry to hear that.”, Pidge apologised. “Thanks.”, I said.

 

(A/N: Pause for dramatic effect)

 

(A/N: Pause for dramatic effect)

 

(A/N: Pause for dramatic effect, lol)

 

“Did you ever find your family?”, I asked him. “Nope.”, Pidge said, “Still looking.” “Does anyone else know or am I only one?”, I asked him. “Everyone pretty much already knows; they’ve tried to help but we still haven’t found anything. But one thing I know for sure is that they’re alive.”, he answered. “Well…”, I said, “At least you have hope, that’s something you can hold onto.”

 

“Would you mind if I gave an extra pair of eyes to help?”, I asked him. “I’d appreciate it”, He mumbled. I saw his eyes slightly moistening with tears. “I just want them back.”, she muttered. It was hard to watch, no, it was horrible to watch someone in tears. I grabbed Pidge and I pulled him into a tight hug.

 

He gasped at the sudden touch but seemed unnerved by it as he returned it. “You will get them back.”, I whispered to him, “Just because you’ve looked in a few places, it doesn’t mean you’ve looked everywhere.”

 

Pidge sniffled and left the hug. Pidge apologised, “I should get back to work.”, he sniffled. I agreed and quietly left Pidge alone.

 

As I stepped back into the hallway, I couldn’t help but rub my face clear of all the tears. Pidge’s story was quite the tearjerker. As I stood there, leaning on the wall, I couldn’t help but hear a loud vocalising hum coming from a few doors down.

 

My interest was immediately piqued and so I followed it. It led me to a door, engulfed in the steam of cooking food. “Now this is more like it.”, I said as I stepped inside. I saw Hunk as he was using the instruments within the kitchen to whip up a meal.

 

“Hi, Hunk.”, I waved at him. He turned to me and smiled, “Oh, hey Zas.”, he beamed, “You’re just in time for lunch.”

 

“Lunch?”, I asked. I glanced at the clock and noticed that it was indeed lunchtime. “Wow, I have been in that room longer than I thought.”, I said aloud, “Oh, well. What are you cooking?”

 

“Burgers and fries.”, he answered. “Huh?”, I said as he laid down multiple plates on the counter. They had some sort of circularly shaped meat inside a half cut piece of bread, next to a small bowl filled with golden brown sticks.

 

“Don’t worry, you wouldn’t have heard of it.”, he said as he passed me a plate, “Try it.” I nodded and sat down at the dining table. I started with the ‘fries’ as Hunk called them and grabbed one of the small sticks from the bowl.

 

“Wait, be careful, they might be-”

 

“Ah!”, I exclaim as I drop the stick back into the bowl. “Hot.”, Hunk finished as he neatly placed a fork and knife next to the plate. I thanked him and stabbed the knife into the stick I attempted to grab.

 

I gently blow on it as I place it in my mouth. It was amazing! It was unlike any normal meal I’ve experienced. Mostly it was leftover rations from my time in the army. I wasn’t really in a good financial status during my time on the run. I never usually asked for payment, as I believe the well being of the universe and its people are a top priority.

 

It was one of my best selling points.

 

“Mmm, nice.”, I commented, “What’s it made from?” “Uhh, potatoes.”, Hunk answered as he busily prepared more dishes.

 

“What in the universe is a ‘potato’?”, I asked. “Never mind.”, Hunk said as I shrugged it off and continued to eat.

 

I was quickly finished with the fries and moved eagerly onto the burger. As I took a bite, I instantly realised it was even better than the fries. It earned multiple moans of affection.

 

“You like it?”, Hunk asked. “I love it!”, I exclaimed as I didn’t stop. “Hey, do you wanna add anything else to it?”, Hunk asked. Again, my curiosity was grabbed. I stopped eating and looked at Hunk.

 

“What do you mean?”, I questioned him. “Do you want to add anything else to it that you like?”, Hunk answered, “You know, like ketchup.” I glanced at him curiously, to which he took a quick hint.

 

“Let me show you.”, he said. He took the burger and took out a red bottle. He sprayed some sort of red substance on the top of the meat before placing back the top half of the bread and in turn passing it back to me.

 

He glanced at the burger, signalling for me to try it. I took a bite…………………….

 

…………“Zas?”……………

…………“You alright?”……

“OOOHH, MYYY GOODNESS!”, I shouted at the top of my lungs, “THIS IS QUIZNAKING FANTASTIC!”

 

Hunk jumped back in surprise. “Glad to see you like it.”, he gulped as he calms down. “How are you not serving royal dinners, Hunk?”, I ask as I literally engulf the burger in one bite.

 

*BURP* “Oh, excuse me.”, I pardoned myself. Hunk laughed, “It’s alright. Hey, if you liked it, the guys will definitely love it. Just gotta deliver the rest of the dishes and everyone should be set.”

 

“Deliver them?”, I whisper to myself. I felt the cogs of my mind working and producing an IDEA. “I can deliver them, Hunk.”, I suggested. “Really?”, he asked. I instantly and eagerly nodded. “Oh, thanks.”, Hunk thanked me, “It’s a big help.”

 

“It’s no problem.”, I said, “In fact, I’ll even make it a game. Zas the waiter, at your service.” I even gave a playful salute. Hunk giggled and thanked me. He handed me a few of the dishes and I organised them around as he gave me more. 1 for each arm and 1 for my head.

 

“Isn’t that a bit dangerous?”, Hunk pointed at the plate on top of my head. “Oh don’t worry.”, I reassured him, “Galra physiology allows us to have great balance. Comes useful in combat and tight situations.”

 

He nodded and waved me off. We both said bye as I exited the door and followed the room directions Hunk told me before I left.

 

After climbing a couple of stairs, I walked up the hallway and came across a door with a blue outline. With my arms busy, I tapped my forehead lightly against the door and said, “Lunch delivery!”

 

The door opened almost instantly as it revealed the blue paladin, Lance. “Aw, sweet.”, he said as he took one of the plates and put it down on the desk in his room. I took the chance to step into his room.

 

As I glanced around, I noticed the room was…quite clean despite the goofball’s personality. The most noticeable thing in Lance’s room was the pictures and notes he had scuffled about on the desk he somehow found space on for the plate.

 

Apart from that, there was a blue robe hanging from a rack in the corner. As I glanced, I found myself instantly looking at the haunting gold tint of  _his_  robes. My breath quickens and I find my body shuddering as I remain fixated on the approaching mass.

 

NO! NO. NO. NO. NO. You're not there Zas! You’re not there anymore.

 

I quicker glanced at the bed and looked at the green device on his bed. It was shaped in an outline of a semicircle with a missing bottom. While maintaining the thin shape it had in the arch, at the ends they are into larger circles which were covered in padding. Maybe it was a visor of sorts.

 

“Lance what’s that?”, I ask as I place down the other plates. He looks up with a mouth struggling to shut due to the mass of fries within it. He glanced at the green device and swallowed.

 

“You mean my headphones?”, he asked. I gave him a questioning look. “You seriously don’t know.”, he asked me. I shook my head no. He grabbed them off the bed. “You these to listen to music.”, he explained, “You know to rock out (he made a motion as if playing some sort of invisible instrument) or to relax while sleeping.”

 

“Okay, I’m gonna be honest with you, I only understood half of that.”, I replied. He rolled his eyes. “Let me show you.”, he said as he placed the headphones down on my head.

 

“It feels like my ears have their own personal pillows.”, I commented. Lance nodded with a smile. He pressed a button on his communications device. “Ahhh!”, I yelped as loud sounds banged my eardrums.

 

I grabbed the headphones and threw them onto the bed. “I’m so sorry.”, Lance apologised, “I forgot to turn down the volume.”

 

I panted as I regained my composure. “Are you alright?”, he asked. I gave him a thumbs up as I stood up.

 

“Putting whatever that was aside.”, I said, “I’ve also come here to socialise and get to know my teammates better. So, tell me about yourself.”

 

He looked confused for a minute, but then a grin spread over his face. “So you want to know the heroic tale of Lance McCain.”, he exulted, “Well, you’ve come to the best man to tell the tale.”

 

“You’ll need to sit down though.”, he suggested, “While brave and heroic, my journey is a long one.” He began going on about his version of how he and the team came together. He said that he took down the scientists quarantining Shiro. He went on to say how he led the team to the Blue Lion which he expertly piloted to the castle, where he started a mutual attraction between him and Allura.

 

He looked smug as he did so, a strong sense of pride from his probably false actions. As he continued on, he seemed to start rambling about how he saved this and that and was honoured as the founder of the Voltron coalition.

 

While at first being entertaining to listen to, his speech started to grow a broad sense of boredom and fantasy. I was majorly surprised though at how Lance’s story managed to get me to put ‘fantasy’ and ‘boredom’ in the same sentence.

 

I just grabbed the remaining plates and snuck off, leaving Lance in his own world for a bit. I walk through the still hallways looking for the next room.

 

“These hallways really need some music.”, I said aloud as I got close to my next stop. As I stopped and turned to face the door, I instantly noticed the warm aura from a few nights ago. It always bugged me. I tapped my forehead on the door and tapped on the door and announced the delivery.

 

The reaction was slower, but after a few ticks, the door opened to reveal Keith. “Hiii Keith.”, I greeted. “What’s up?”, he asked as he kept the door opened slightly. “Well, first off. I’ve brought food.”, I said as I passed him a plate. He thanked me. “Secondly.”, I continued, “I’m going around, getting to know everyone better.”

 

“I’ve talked to Pidge and Hunk.”, I listed, “I tried talking to Lance but then he started boasting about being the hero.” “Yeah, that definitely sounds like Lance.”, Keith replied. I laughed a little. As I looked at Keith, he looked a little nervous. Judging by the way he kept his door mostly closed, I assumed it was something in his room.

 

“Is now a good time to talk?”, I questioned him. He glances nervously back into his room before turning back to me. “No, sorry.”, he said, “We can do it another time if you want.”

 

“Um, yeah. Sure. I can do that.”, I replied. He nodded and was about to close his door before I interrupted.

 

“Keith?”, I asked. He opened the door slightly. “Have you been feeling anything…weird, like a sort of weird, warm feeling?” His face grew into one of concern yet knowing. “No, I haven’t. Why?”, he obviously lied but I didn’t push it.

 

“Just a weird feeling is all.”, I answered, “See you, Keith.” He waved me bye as he closed his door and I made my way to the final room on my list.

Keith was obviously lying about the aura from his room. He knows something about it, but he’s trying to keep it a secret. Could it be something bad? Something evil? Oh, stop Zas. You can’t distrust your new teammates so quickly, it could be something else. It could be a hobby or something else he doesn’t want to share with anyone else. I know the feeling.

 

Like what happened on the Galra command ship? Yes like that, but I had good reasons to keep it secret and why  _no one_  will find out about it. They’ll just think I’m weak and trash. As my mind ended up in conflict, I didn’t notice the armour in front of me.

 

“Oof!”, I banged my head on the armour, bringing me back to now. The armour turned around and revealed Shiro. “Zas.”, he greeted. “Oh, hey Shiro.”, I beamed, “What are you doing?”

 

“I was just on my way to help Pidge with repairs to a couple panels on the outside of the castle.”, he answered. “Cooooolll”, I answered, “Can I come help?”

 

“I thought you didn’t know much about engineering.”, he said. “Doesn’t mean I can’t help.”, I replied, “If you need tools or something held down or broken. You can count on me.” He laughed. “Ok then, we’ll appreciate the help.”, he said as we turned to walk.

 

“Oh, by the way, I volunteered to help Hunk deliver the lunches to everyone.”, I said, “Speaking of which, here’s your lunch.” I passed him the lunch. He thanked me and we continued to walk.

 

“So, I’m going around, getting to know the team better.”, I mentioned, “I talked to everyone apart from you, Allura and Coran.” He hummed in acknowledgement. “So, you want to talk then?”, he asked me.

 

“Exactly!”, I confirmed. “Well, what do you want to know?”, he asked me. “I don’t know really. I’ve already asked the others about how the team formed. Hmmmmmmmm. Ooh, I don’t know much about your species. I don’t even know your species name or planet of origin.”

 

“That one’s easy.”, he answered, “We are humans from planet Earth.”

 

“What?!”, I asked as I stood still.

 

Shiro turned around. “We’re humans from Earth.”, he said again, “Why, have you heard of it?” “Only a few times before.”, I said as I wondered to my memories, remembering my mom’s words……

 

_“Mommy?”, I asked as mom tucked me into bed._

 

_“Yes, my little doctor?”, she asked in turn._

 

_“Why did you fall in love with an alien?”, I asked her._

 

_Her face turned into a thinking one as she formulated her answer._

 

_“Because.”, she answered, “One day, I was on one of my missions. During that mission, my ship was damaged and I crash landed on your dad’s planet.”_

 

_I listened closely to my mom’s story._

 

_“When I crash landed, he retrieved me from the wreckage.”, she continued, “And he nursed me back to health. Like a doctor.”_

 

_I smiled at the last sentence._

 

_“When I recovered, I found that I couldn’t contact any Galra ships.”, she said, “I was cut off from everyone else.”_

_“To make things more complicated, I discovered that the planet had no connection to the rest of the universe whatsoever.”, she added, “Not only was I cut off from the Galra, but I was cut off from the war entirely.”_

 

_“It sounds amazing, Mommy.”, I commented._

 

_“It is amazing, Zas.”, she replied, “I stayed with your father and we fell in love.” Her face shifts downwards as she looks saddened._

 

_“Mommy, are you ok?”, I ask her._

 

_“I’m fine, sweetie.”, she said, “A few years after we fell in love, my equipment detected Galra soldiers on the planet. Which meant it was time for me to head back home.”_

 

_“Couldn’t you have stayed?”, I asked her. “I wanted to Zas, more than anything.”, she whispered, “But if I didn’t lead them away, the Galra would have come to your father’s planet and I didn’t want that to happen.”_

 

_I saw her eyes begin to swell with tears. “Your father understood. We both wanted to keep the planet safe. So after a kiss goodbye, I led the soldiers back home.”, she explained, “It wasn’t long after that I discovered I was pregnant with you.”_

 

_“People didn’t like that though.”, I replied._

 

_“No, they didn’t.”, she agreed, “But you were the only thing I had left after I left your father. I couldn’t just lose you.”_

 

_“Daddy’s planet sounds amazing Mommy.”, I commented, “What was its name?”_

 

_Mom looked left and right before asking, “Can you keep a secret, Zas?”_

 

_I eagerly nodded. She smirked and leaned in to whisper in my ear, “Your father was a beautiful human from the planet Earth.”_

 

Earth…The name echoed in my mind as I noticed a hand waving in front of my eyes. “Sorry, what?”, I gasped as I came back. “You were standing still, saying nothing for a few ticks.”, Shiro explained.

 

“Sorry, it’s just…I’ve heard that name before.”, I apologised. “You’ve heard of Earth?”, he asked surprisingly. He had an appropriate reaction. Earth was quite far from any known territory in the universe. Try searching it up in any database, it’d return 0 results.

 

“In a way.”, I answered. I looked left to right before grabbing Shiro and pulling him into the nearest room. As I was about to start talking when I noticed the bedroom around us, and the pink-robed figure by the mirror.

 

She turned around to reveal Allura, wearing a facial mask and a shocked look. I think she just got out of the shower.

 

“I….am…..so……sorry.”, I annunciated each word slowly. “GET OUT!”, she screamed as we ran out of the room and down the hallway. “What was that for?”, Shiro shouted as we ran. “I thought the room was empty.”, I replied. As we turned a corner, we stopped and took a slow breath.

 

As we breathed, I noticed a loudening laugh. I looked up and saw Shiro laughing. “Why are you laughing?”, I asked. “Because…”, he laughed, “It’s funny ” He laughed and laughed. As I thought about it, it was easy to realise the comedic effect of the situation. My laughter quickly joined his as we stood in the hallway.

As the laughter ended, Shiro asked, “So, what were you saying?” “Well, if I may put a possible dampener on the happy note.”, I replied, “My mom visited Earth once.” Shiro gasped and made a surprised face.

 

“I know, right?”, I said, “And you know how I said I was a hybrid, bullied, called ‘impure’ and that.” He nodded. “Well, you can probably guess where I'm going with this.”, I implied, “But, long story short, my mom fell in love with an engineer. The  _engineer_ was a human.”

 

Shiro blinked…and blinked…and blinked again. “That is…”, he started, “Interesting.” “Mmmhmm”, I hummed, “Dad doesn’t know about me though, mom left Earth before learning she was pregnant.” “I’m sorry”, he said.

 

“It’s ok.”, I said, “It was to protect him and Earth from the Galra.” “It’s just…”, I continued, “I’ve always to go to Earth, ever since my mom first told me about it when I was just a little boy.”

 

I instantly came up with an idea and released a happy gasp. “Do you think you can take me to Earth?”, I asked.

 

He let out an apologetic look. “Zas, it doesn’t work that way.”, he told me. “What? W-why?”, I stuttered. He sighed, “When we formed Voltron, we made a promise to fight Zarkon and protect the universe. We can’t just leave everything and head back to Earth for visits. When we defeat Zarkon though, we can head back home.”

 

So, to summarise Shiro’s information. I just found out what humans look like (Sidenote: Humans are more beautiful than Mom said). I’ve found a way to head to Earth. I can’t go to Earth yet until Zarkon is defeated. Breathe, Zas, breathe. Plus side, more time in space will give me time to learn about Earth culture. It’ll be like one of those classes where people learn about their new environment before they move. Yeah, yeah I can do that.

 

“I understand.”, I said, “But when we get to Earth, you owe me a tour.” He nodded and smiled, “I think I can agree to that.” I giggled a little. Shiro suddenly said, “Dammit, I forgot about the repairs.” He started running off for the nearest airlock, putting on his helmet.

 

“Wait up, Shiro.”, I shouted after him as I started following him, putting on my helmet too as we raced out of the castle to meet the other paladins for repairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading, don't forget to leave feedback and I look forward to publishing the next chapter.


	6. A planet of engineers, a new bond, and annoying cubes. (2X04)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the Doctor and the Paladins finish repairs, they come across weird looking spores which take them to an advanced planet where a new bond is made and our Doctor arrives at an awkward revelation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone. Sorry, it took me a few days, I got a new job video editing an abridged series. Regardless, here's the next chapter. And as requested, the chapter is longer 7.5k words.

**** Repairs were going smoothly on the outside of the ship, with an ever so passive-aggressive Allura guiding us. I’m betting she’s still mad about the Galra on board…and possibly, the bedroom incident. I can understand the second part because that was on me for not checking the room first.

 

But I still couldn’t understand why she’s acting all dark towards me. I don’t get it. A little bit of untrustworthiness and paranoia at the beginning, I’d understand, but continuity with it. A little bit harder to comprehend. I mean, who do you know that’s constantly paranoid of everyone around them ( ;) ).

 

Coming back to the repairs at hand, we were currently at a panel with 4 lights on the outer rim of it. 

 

“We need to hurry up with these repairs, Zarkon could be here at any moment.”, Shiro said as Hunk unlocked the panel and the lights turned red. He pulled the panel back to reveal a big, blue spiral-shaped sort of rig (I don’t know the word for it). It looked amazing, you could swear that it would make a brilliant nightlight.

 

“Oooh, glowy.”, I commented. “Okay. Panel’s off.”, Hunk told Allura and Coran, “Now what?”“Very simple.”, Coran answered, “Just loosen the blaxums on the somoflange.” I glanced at the spiral. “Uh, the what with the what?”, I asked.

 

“I think he means, could you be more specific?”, Hunk asked. “Sorry, Hunk.”, Allura apologised, “He means the poklones on the agroclams.” I quickly muted my mic connection to Allura. “Is she deliberately making these words up.”, I asked the others. Lance gave a shrug of his shoulders, meaning I don’t know.

 

“It doesn’t help.”, Hunk told Allura. “Easy, Hunk. I got this.”, Lance said smugly. “Um, are you sure?”, I asked him. “Please, you’ve heard my story.”, Lance told me, “If I can be a saviour of the universe, then I can certainly handle this.”

 

After Lance pressed a couple of buttons, alarms were blaring everywhere and everything turned red. Everyone went into panic mode. “Uh-oh, that can’t be good.”, Lance said. 

 

“What did you do?!”, I shouted. “No, not the smalters, the poklones.”, Allura said. “No, no! It’s the blaxums.”, Coran argued. “I don’t care what it is.”, I said, “We just need to do something.”

I saw Pidge go to the side of the rig and study it. In my short time here, I’ve learned that if you had any tech or math problems, Pidge is your go-to guy.After a tick or two, when the rising sound of danger reached dangerous levels. We saw Pidge pressed a few buttons and turn a few knobs with immense determination and concentration. He pushed the handle in.

 

The alarms immediately died down and everything returned to a nice calm blue. I took a relieved sigh as everyone calmed down. Pidge had stars in his eyes talking about how he was constantly amazed by the castle’s technology. I’m not amazed, I’m just plain confused.

 

As Pidge went on with his techno praise and Hunk for some reason, calling the rig a ‘curly fry’. Some sort of gooey projectile hit Hunk’s helmet. We all looked ahead and saw what looked like a huge storm of the projectiles.

 

Shiro projected his suit’s shield. “All right we’re prepared for this.”, Shiro said. Everyone else turned on their shields. As I looked down at mine, I immediately noticed what seemed to be hundreds of buttons for different functions. Unlucky for me because guess who forgot to read the manual for the suit. I pressed one button and it activated the jetpack. I pressed it again quickly to prevent me from blasting off. 

 

I tried another one as I turned a knob, which instead of a shield, increased the length of the suit’s built-in sword. “Ok.”, I muttered to myself, “Third time’s the charm.” I pressed a button that seemed to flicker in response to the proximity of the goo. I pressed it and the shield raised. “Success!”, I exclaimed. I looked up and saw everyone looking at me. “he, he. Sorry.”, I apologised.

 

Shiro turned back to the goo, “Remember your rogue projectile cluster training from the garrison.” “Please, remember there’s some of us who haven’t heard of whatever you just said.”, I commented. “First, we need a temporary shelter.”, Shiro continued

 

SPLAT!

 

A goo ball strikes Shiro’s helmet in the back as he’s taken by surprise. We all turned back to see Lance in a throwing position. “Oh, sorry, Shiro.”, he apologised, “I was trying to hit Keith.” I couldn’t help but start laughing. It got worse as Lance got a goo ball in turn from Keith. “Like that?”, Keith said. 

 

I was absolutely laughing loudly now. “Yes!”, Hunk exclaimed, “Squishy asteroid fight.” He threw a goo ball. However, I didn’t realise until it was too late that the goo was for me. It hit me square in the visor.

 

“AHHHHH, HELP! I’M BLIND!”, I shouted as I heard the others laughing through my comm. From there, a heavy fight ensued. People were spinning, Lance used Hunk as a shield. Shiro, however, was just trying to deflect it all with his shield. “Oi, don’t you dare hide.”, I told Shiro, “Come on.” I got behind him and threw 2 gooballs into his back. He yelped as he felt the impact. 

 

“Oh, now it’s on!”, Shiro declared as he fired back at me. From there it was a continuous fire of gooballs between everyone. As we did so, I heard Pidge talking with Coran and Allura about them. Something about spores and codes. 

 

“Sorry, what’s going on.”, I asked to quench my curiosity. “Pidge thinks that there’s some sort of code in the spores.”, Hunk explained. Coded spores, that’s impossible. Spores are a part of nature, you can’t just program nature. Unless…

 

“The Olkari.”, I whispered to myself. “If anyone can figure it out, it’s you Pidge.”, Shiro said…before getting another spore to the head. I just couldn’t stop laughing. “I think I might have an idea about the spores.”, I said, “I can help.”

 

“Before all that, everyone needs to come in for decontamination.”, Allura told us. She’s right. The spores have been travelling in space for who knows how long, they could have picked up some sort of bacteria.

 

We all headed into the decontamination area, awaiting the start of the process. As we did so, I noticed Keith in a standing position with his arms crossed, looking like he’s ready for sleep. A common position of his that I’ve noticed over the last few days. An alarm blared before jets of water assaulted us from all directions. As they did so, Shiro and I rubbed the water along our arms and legs to make sure everywhere got a good scrubbing. Lance, Hunk and Pidge, however, were taken by surprise and yelped. 

 

The jets blasted soap now, Lance and Pidge looked a little stuck with the bubbles. Keith looked like, well, Keith and Hunk seemed to be getting used to the jets as he began spreading the soap everywhere.

 

Then came the rinse cycle, the room quickly flooded with water and we all floated in the water. That was the calm bit though, now here comes the storm.

 

As the room emptied itself of water, a large gush of wind immediately blasted at us. Shiro, Keith and Hunk seemed to be doing fine with just standing still. The rest of us, however, was having a bit of difficulty. Pidge was blown away to the other end of the room; yeah, no way am I going through that. 

 

I glanced at Lance and saw that he was holding on to Hunk for support. Brilliant idea! I began to feel my feet slipping out from under me. I quickly lurched forward and grabbed the first thing I touched as my feet left the floor. As I opened my eyes, I saw that I was grabbing hold of Shiro’s arm. Personal note: his arm feels really muscular. 

 

As the jets died down, Pidge could stand and I was about to fall to the floor. But before I could feel the impact, I felt two arms holding me up. I immediately looked up and saw the person I was clinging to keeping me from the floor. “Thanks.”, I told him. “No problem.”, he smiled. 

 

Pidge and I headed down to the lab to analyse the spore while everyone else went to their room. “So you believe the spores could be containing some sort of code?”, I asked. “The way their acting, the way they’re pulsating.”, Pidge replied, “Normal spores don’t do that but the order it acts in is like some sort of sequence.” “Like a repeating code.”, I finished. He nodded.

 

He typed some commands into the computer and left it as it started to examine the spore. “I’ve put the bioluminescent pattern from the spore into the computer.”, he explained, “We’ll put it through every code breaking sequence we have in the database. Should take a few dobashes.” 

 

I nodded. “Pidge.”, I said, “I have a theory.” “Yeah?”, he asked. “Have you ever heard of the Olkari?”, I asked him. He shook his head no. “The Olkari is this super advanced species. They're famous for their tech and their abilities.”, I explained.

 

“Abilities?”, Pidge asked. “Yeah. The Olkari have a natural ability.”, I answered, “It’s like telepathy. The Olkari are able to communicate with the land around them. They can command the seas, trees and hills to construct whatever they desire.”

 

“In short.”, I commanded, “While the rest of the universe relies on metal and electricity, the Olkari rely on nature and bioluminescence to build their machines. It’s what makes them so advanced.” “That’s so cool.”, Pidge beamed. “You’re telling me.”, I replied, “I even got to see it in action myself. My mother took me to their planet when I was young. It was so beautiful.” 

 

I smiled. Suddenly, we heard a beeping from the computer and we rushed toward it. “It’s found the code.”, Pidge said. He brought up the result. “I was right.”, I told Pidge, “The code’s in the Olkari native language. I can read it.”

 

Pidge moved aside to allow me to translate. As I read it, I felt a great sense of dread.

 

UNDER ATTACK: GALRA. HELP!

 

“Get the others.”, I told Pidge, “Tell them to meet us in the hangar.” I grabbed the laptop and headed off down to the hangar.

 

When everyone was gathered by the Green Lion, Hunk questioned if we were doing something with a potato. “Sorry, Hunk. We can have fries later.”, I told him. Pidge explained what we discovered and at one point, went on about a guy named ‘Turing’.

 

Keith interrupted and got Pidge back to the point. Thank you, Keith. Pidge read out the message and the coordinates. “Olkarion.”, I said, “The Olkari homeworld.” “It’s a distress signal.”, Shiro 

replied, “Good work, guys.” 

 

Shiro ordered for the coordinates to be inputted into the navigation system. We immediately set off for Olkarion with quick haste.

 

“So what are these o-kary anyway?”, Lance asked. “Olkari.”, I corrected him. “They’re an engineer race. They’re capable of manipulating solid metal. They could build a computer or change the shapes of cities just from a single block of steel.” “An Olkari once gave me this.”, Coran presented a small cube which had a glowing line around the middle of it. 

 

“What is it?”, Lance asked. “Uh, Hello. It’s a floating cube.”, Coran answered. He laughed and then went on to demonstrate how the cube could be used to repeat a phrase you say to it. Pidge was absolutely stunned by it, he was checking it out like he was a checking out a girl in heat. 

 

“Why would a society full of literal tech wizards use spores to send a distress signal.”, Keith asked. “Most of the universe uses metal and electricity, Keith.”, I answered, “The Olkari prefer to use nature.”

 

“Who cares?”, Pidge asked, “When do we get to see that city?” “Actually, Pidge, the distress signal isn’t coming from the city.”, Allura answered, “It’s coming from the forest.” Pidge immediately looked disappointed.

 

We quickly departure in the lions as we head down to the source of the signal. As we passed the city, Pidge asked, “Why doesn’t anyone send a distress signal from a cool place?” “Because the cool places are probably a trap.”, I answered. 

 

“I hate the outdoors. Nothing but sunburn and poison oak.”, Pidge said. “I think the Olkari would disagree with you on that one, Pidge.”, I replied. “I like it out here. It’s quiet.”, Keith said. Suddenly, we gasped as we saw arrows flying past us in major packs. 

 

I heard a sudden clang from outside. “What was that?”, Hunk asked. “Uh, are we being attacked?”, Keith questioned. “I don’t know.”, Shiro answered, “But something’s dragging my lion down to the surface.” “Yeah. Something’s pulling Blue down too.”, Lance agreed.

 

The lions began to descend into the forest. “The Galra never use arrows, so it’s not them.”, I said, “It must be the Olkari.” “Uh, don’t they know we’re here to help?”, Hunk asked. “They must be using homing arrows, to bring us to them.”, I answered. 

 

We entered a clearing and saw a large group of mech suits and Olkari all pointing guns and bows at us. As the lions landed, Hunk asked, “Are those wooden mech suits?”

 

“Are you kidding me?”, Lance asked, “We just got taken down by a bunch of tree people.” “They’re not tree people Lance.”, I replied, “They’re the Olkari.” Shiro turned on his speaker. “We come in peace!”, he announced to them. 

 

I saw a cloaked figure step forward and remove her hood. “It’s Ryner.”, I whispered to Shiro. “Who’s Ryner?”, Shiro whispered back. We heard a sound and looked to our left and saw Pidge getting out and holding up the spore. The group celebrated as they saw the spore. They lowered the weapons and Shiro told us to exit the lions.

 

As we got out, I could smell the forest and taste the metallic tang in the air. Exactly as I remembered. As I stepped out, I heard an Olkari soldier shouting.

 

“GALRA!”, he shouted and everyone had their guns up again and were rushing toward me. The paladins looked at me worryingly. “It’s ok! I’m friendly.”, I shouted. The Olkari quickly surrounded me and had guns pointed ever so close to my face.

 

“Ever heard of personal space.”, I asked them. I saw the paladins trying to tell them to back off but it won’t work. I saw the soldiers in front of me move to the side as Ryner stepped up. “Zas?”, she asked. “Hello, Ryner.”, I greeted her. She smiled and ordered for everyone to put their guns down for a second time.

 

With that, Ryner immediately pulled me into a hug. “We were so worried about you.”, she whispered. “We?”, I whispered back. “Your mother and your friends.”, she answered. I sighed, “I know. I left without an explanation and I made you all scared. I’m sorry, but it was for good reason.” 

 

“Can we just discuss this later?”, I asked her, “We need to help your people.” She nodded and asked us to follow her. “Dude, you were almost shot.”, Lance exclaimed. “Don’t worry. It’s part of the job.”, I answered. Shiro was in front but slowed down a little to walk next to me. “You alright?”, he asks. “I’m fine.”, I replied, “Luckily, we ran into another good friend of mine; and once again, I’m reminded of how Mom and my friends are missing me.”

 

He looked at me concerned. “Did you ever tell your mom and your friends about what you were doing?”, he asked. “No.”, I answered, “At the time, I was just over-encumbered with the sights that I saw during my time my army and my…experiences. It was a spur of the moment decision.”

 

“Do you wanna talk about it?”, he suggested. “Later.”, I said, “Right now, we have to help the Olkari.” He nodded and we walked the rest of the way in silence. Soon, as we were ascending a footpath, Ryner finally spoke.

 

“When the Galra attacked, only a few of us escaped the cities.”, she explained, “We were forced to flee into the forest.” “How long have you lived like this?”, Shiro asked her. “Many decaphoebs.”, was her reply. 

 

“Oh, Ryner. I’m so sorry.”, I apologised. “It’s not your fault, dear.”, she replied, “But as you can see, our people are resilient. We never stopped evolving.” You could see many buildings built on the sides of the trees, all covered in bioluminescence. It was incredible.

 

“Instead, we adapted our skills to the environment.”, she continued. It was easy to see. There were many walkways built between the trees to allow easy transport. Not only that, but the buildings covered the trees from top to bottom. They converted the forest into a new home. It was quite the achievement in anyone’s book.

 

Ryner took us down to have a closer look. As we approached a light source, we saw an Olkari crafting something out of a bunch of sticks. After some meddling around, the sticks were flying as what looked like a drone. “Amazing.”, I commented.

 

“You really are the most incredible engineers in the universe.”, Pidge complimented them, “To be able to switch between using precision machinery to a bunch of sticks.”

 

“Nature’s designs are far more superior than anything we could devise.”, Ryner replied. “No offence, but I’ll take my computer over a tree any day.”, Pidge said. “You two can talk science later.”, Shiro interrupted, “Let’s assemble Voltron and get rid of these Galra invaders.”

 

“It’s not that simple I’m afraid.”, Ryner replied, “The Galra have our leader, Lubos.” The other Olkari repeated the name. “If you attack, who knows what they’ll do to him?”, Ryner cautioned. “Then looks like we got a rescue mission first.”, I said. Ryner smiled. “Then come.”, she said, “I believe I may have a thing or two to aid you.”

 

We followed her again as she took us to another part of the forest. When we stopped, we were right next to a tree that was dangling some sort of ball-shaped machinery. Apart from that, the most noticeable feature of the landscape were these beautiful red flowers which held a bright glow within them.

 

“Um…Ryner, where are we?”, Keith asked. “The armoury.”, Ryner announced. We looked ahead and saw two Olkari dip their hands into the flowers. The flowers then began to glow and wrap around their hands, forming guns. One of the Olkari tested his weapon and it definitely worked. Just another marvel of Olkari technology.

 

Everyone whoaed at the sight, Pidge had stars in his eyes again. Next, Ryner placed her hand on the side of a nearby tree. Lines of bioluminescence shot up into the tree and into one of the balls. Said ball dropped to the ground and rose, suddenly sprouting arms and legs, turning into a mech suit. 

 

“Cool!”, Lance awed. “Uh, can I get one of those?”, Keith asked. I smiled at how the Olkari was always the quickest to impress.

 

“Of course. You can each have one.”, Ryner answered. She gave each of us a wooden headband with a sort of crystal at the front. I put mine on my head and listened to Ryner as she explained to us how they worked.

 

Hunk licked his. “Makes my tongue itchy.”, he said. Pidge put his on and went to another tree. He placed his hand down and closed his eyes. The crystal illuminated and suddenly, another mech was made. 

 

“Aw, sweet. I wanna go.”, I said as I went to a tree and focused on the thought of a mech suit. That’s how we ended up with a third mech. Haha. 

 

“Excellent!”, Ryner exclaimed. “I think mine is just a tree.”, Lance said as he and the others tried to do one of their own.

 

“You must have a deep connection with nature.”, Ryner explained. Pidge disagreed, something about allergies and his pale skin. “Pidge is our resident tech expert.”, Shiro told Ryner. Shiro was just standing by Pidge’s mech. “Aren’t you gonna try?”, I asked Shiro. “Not really much of a tech guy.”, Shiro answered. “How do you know if you haven’t tried it?”, I asked, “Come on, have a try. Please.”

 

“Fine.”, he answered. “Yay!”, I exclaimed. I passed him my headband and we headed to an empty tree. He placed his hand on the tree. “Nothing happened.”, Shiro said. “Have you tried focusing.”, I suggested. 

 

“Yes.”, he answered. “Looks like you need to focus harder.”, I said, “Need help?” “No, I got this.”, he said. “Alright”, I took a step back. He widened his stance, straightened up his back, took a deep breath and closed his eyes. I watched and saw the bioluminescence go a little from his hand before retreating. 

 

“Alright. Here comes the helping party.”, I said as I walked up to him. “What can you do?”, he asked me. “Glad you asked.”, I replied, “First get back into the stance you were in before.”

 

He got back into the previous stance. “Now, I want you to take a single thought: a special place, a special time, a special person. And I want you to focus on that thought, use it to fuel up the bioluminescence to bring out the mech.”

 

He closed his eyes and I see him concentrating. “You found it?”, I asked. “Yeah.”, he answered. “Good.”, I replied, “Now use it, use that thought to power the bioluminescence and send it to the mech.”

 

I sound like such a cheesy therapist right now. He concentrated, and he was definitely concentrating hard. You could see the strain in his face. I glanced at the tree and I saw the bioluminescence slowly rising up.

 

“That’s it.”, I whispered, “Keep going.” The bioluminescence was picking up speed and Shiro was relaxing. He must’ve found a good thought. As the energy reached the top, I checked up on Shiro who was doing fine. 

 

“Adam.”, he suddenly whispered. So it’s a person. I knew the big guy had to have someone special. I looked up and saw the ball drop down on the ground forming his mech. He opened his eyes and lowered his hand. I laughed as I grabbed him in a happy hug. “You did it! I’m so proud of you.”, I congratulated him.

 

“Thanks.”, he said as I released him. “See, wasn’t so hard.”, I told him. “No, no it wasn’t.”, he smiled.

 

“Oh, wonderful.”, Ryner said, “Do you know what this means?” “That Shiro needs to try new things.”, I suggested. “That I should start gardening?”, Pidge suggested. “No.”, Ryner replied, “You’re going to need to give your friends a ride.”

 

As we all boarded the mechs, we split up into teams. In Pidge’s mech was Lance, in my mech was Hunk and in Shiro’s mech was Keith. Ryner got a mech to herself. Lucky. We rushed off as went on our mission. Ryner directed us to the edge of the forest. As we reached the border of the city, we scouted our options.

 

“Their headquarters are impenetrable from the roof.”, Ryner explained, “But there is a small opening in the roof which leads all the way down to an open courtyard.”

 

“That’s quite a drop.”, Keith noted. “But there you’ll have total access to the building.”, Ryner replied, “The hard part will be getting onto the rooftop undetected.” “That won’t be a problem.”, Shiro said confidently. 

 

Hunk suddenly leaned forward, causing me to lean a little to my right. “Hey, what’s that?”, he asked. He pointed at an enormous dark cube which sat in the middle of the city. “Is that part of the building?”, Hunk asked. 

 

“My Lubos! It can’t be.”, Ryner gasped. “Hey, that looks like the cube Coran gave me.”, Pidge mentioned. “I haven’t seen one of those in many decaphoebes.”, Ryner replied, “We used to play with them as children.”

 

“But this…Only King Lubos could have designed one that size.”, Ryner continued. “Why would he do that?”, Keith asked. “They must’ve forced him to reveal his designs and reconstruct it as a weapon.”

 

“Combining Olkari technology with Galra vision.”, I grumbled. “From the looks of it, I’d say it’s almost finished.”, Ryner said. 

 

Shiro ordered everyone back to base to execute the rescue plan. First, we all gathered in the Green Lion due to its stealth capabilities. Passing easily over the city, the Lion approached the building.

 

“Guys, quick thing before we drop in.”, I said as everyone looked at me. “To the Galra, I’m known as the Doctor. I never tell them my identity to protect my friends and family back on the homeworld. You can’t call me Zas in front of the other Galra.”, I told them. They nodded. “We understand.”, Shiro said. “Thanks.”, I thanked him.

 

We passed over the building and dropped down into it, easing our fall with our jetpacks. As we landed down and quickly checked for bad guys, Shiro planted a sensor on the floor, looking for Lubos’ biorhythm. Pidge sent a scan of the building to our HUDs. As we followed the trail, we had to duck down as we came across a couple of Galra soldiers every now and then.

 

We finally came across the door leading to the biorhythm signature we got. We all lined up on the sides of the corridor, ready to head in. As we prepared, we could hear moaning and sobbing coming from inside. 

 

Shiro gave the order to move in. The door opened and we snuck inside. As we got further into the room, I could hear something strange, couldn’t tell what it was. We eventually came to the edge of an opening into a separate room. As we lined up by it and looked into the room, what we saw was…was… what looked like a drama show.

 

In front of the large holo-screen, sat King Lubos and next to him, stood an Olkari prisoner. From the looks of things, the king was doing just fine. I looked at the others and they were all confused as I am. “They did say he was a prisoner, correct?”, I whispered to them. They nodded. Shiro stood up and approached the king. The rest of us followed.

 

“King Lubos?”, Shiro said. The prisoner and the king were surprised. “Yes? Who are you?”, Lubos asked, “Are you the jesters I requested?” “Depends which of us you’re talking to.”, I muttered to myself.

 

“Um, we’re here to, like, rescue you?”, Lance said. The king hummed and pressed a button on his chair. Suddenly, the wall opened and the lights turned on. Alarms blared. Galra soldiers lined up in firing squad formation as their commander approached.

 

“You could’ve just said, ‘no, thanks’.”, Hunk suggested. The general was one of the bigger ones of the lot. He wore standard commander uniform, but what made him stand out was the machine part of his face and his tusk teeth. 

 

“Looks like someone came to rescue you, Lubos.”, the commander said. “You turned your back on your own people to save your own skin?”, Shiro asked Lubos. “I’m doing this for my people!”, the king tried to justify, “They wanted to fight the Galra but they’re too powerful. The Galra could destroy us.”

 

“So, you helped enslave your people to build some super weapon?”, Lance asked. “Don’t make me the bad guy.”, he replied, “He forced me to do it.” “If you were forced to do it, then how come you’re sitting around watching drama shows while stuffing yourself full with that big buffet you have?”, I asked him.

 

“My, my. Do my eyes deceive me?”, the commander asked, “The Galra who turned his back on his kind. No wonder you sided with this Voltron trash. What do you go by, I don’t recall. Doctor, Dog, traitor… _impure._ ” I ignored the small spark of anger in me and turned to face him. “The Doctor’s fine enough for me. Thanks.”, I replied, “Might I have the privilege of knowing who you are?”

 

He huffed, “The commander who’s going to wipe out the biggest mistake in Galra history.” “Oh, so generic quiznak. Ok.”, I replied. “You mock me?”, he asked. “No, just stating the obvious.”, I retorted. 

 

“What are you doing?”, Lance whispered. “It’s ok.”, I whispered back. “I have a line of soldiers who can easily kill you before you make a move.”, he threatened. “I have friends who aren’t scared of me and a life outside of a uniform. I think in people terms, I’m doing better.” “You’re facing death with humour, Doctor?”, he laughed. “It’s making you laugh.”, I retorted, “I think I’m doing good with that strategy.”

 

I glanced behind me and saw that Keith was the closest to Lubos. “Keith, be ready.”, I whispered into the comms.

 

“You are spouting nothing but nonsense.”, Lubos scolded, “It means nothing.” “Oh, dear Lubos, this talking was for something.”, I replied. “Then tell me, what is it for?”, he asked. “I just simply needed to get behind you.”, I answered, “KEITH!”

 

I kicked Lubos in the gut, causing him to step back into Keith’s ready grip. I quickly grabbed the prisoner and rushed behind the others. When I looked back, I saw that Keith held his Bayard to Lubos’ throat.

 

“Okay, we’re walking out of here!”, Keith announced, “Anyone tries to stop us and Lubos gets it.” “Woah. K-Keith.”, Shiro sputtered. Lubos tried to look back to the prisoner. “La-sai, what are you doing, siding with these maniacs?”, Lubos asked.

 

“You betrayed our people.”, La-sai replied, “I can’t live this lie anymore.” “You don’t want me to hurt your genius engineer, right?”, Keith asked. I looked at the commander for his response…and he smiled. “Everyone, be ready to be run.”, I whispered into the comms.

 

“Oh, be my guest.”, the commander answered, “His work is done. The cube is complete.” Lubos was definitely surprised. “What?”, he yelped, “But-But I thought we had a deal.” “Guards, put them all out of their misery.”, the commander ordered. 

 

As the soldiers readied their weapons, a sudden wall of fire separated us as the wall caved in, revealing the Green Lion. “Your ride is here.”, Pidge announced. I laughed and we all made a run for the lion. The soldiers fired non-stop on the lion. 

 

As we ran, I could hear the commander shout, “Engage the cube. Take down the lion.” We jet packed our way onto the lion as it moved away from the opening. Hunk fired with his gun to provide suppressive fire. In the distance, we could hear a loud thud and saw the giant cube light up.

 

“The cube is operational.”, Shiro said, “We’ve gotta get back to the other lions and form Voltron.” The Green Lion speeded off for the lions, but as I looked back, I could see the cube begin to rise. As we landed in the Olkari settlement, we threw Lubos down to the ground in front of all the Olkari.

 

“What’s going on?”, Ryner asked. “While your countrymen starved, King Lubos was well taken care of by the Galra.”, Shiro explained, “He willingly helped them build that cube. Willingly helped to enslave his own people.” The Olkari gasped and murmured in shock. “I know you’re devastated, but it’s time to be strong and use your Olkari spirit to fight alongside Voltron and take back your planet!” 

 

Ryner looked proud of Shiro’s speech, as much as I was probably looking at that moment. But then Ryner turned her head down to Lubos and her face showed shame. “Lubos, how could you?”, she asked him. Lubos was at a loss for words when trying to explain himself. Ryner instead silenced him and announced to the other Olkari that they must free their people. The Olkari cheered as they were willing to fight.

 

We entered the lions and formed Voltron quickly as the cube was no doubt on its way. We rocketed out of the forest to meet the cube halfway, to keep civilians safe. “Let’s be careful. The Galra may very well have hidden some tricks in that cube.”, I said. Everyone nodded.

 

“Alright, team.”, Shiro said, “Let’s take that thing down.” The cube quickly lighted up as it powered a beam which shot at us, but Voltron was quicker and was able to safely dash out of the way as it fired more shots. We formed the shield and used it to stop the lasers as we fired back. When our shot fired at it, it didn’t seem to do anything. But a tick later, the cube was firing our shot right back at us.

 

“Did it just absorb our lasers?”, Pidge asked. Shiro suggested an increase in firepower with Hunk’s blaster. “That wouldn’t work, it’d just shoot back any firepower we’d shoot at it.”, I thought. Pidge seemed to have the same idea. As we tried to suggest it was a bad idea, Hunk ended up being quicker to the trigger.

 

The elongated beam fired continuously at the cube. The cube was being pushed back by it. “I think it’s working.”, Hunk said. It actually did look like it was working. However, when the team finished, the cube immediately shot the beam back at us. The shield was holding but weakly. 

 

“It’s shooting back the shots like an echo.”, I explained. “Like Coran’s echo cube.”, Shiro replied. “It’s learning.”, Pidge said, “Making its own versions of our weapons to use against us.” The intensity of the beam increased. “We can’t just sit here.”, Lance said, “We’ve got to move.” Voltron moved out of the way of the beam, but it quickly caught up with us. As the beam hit Voltron, we ended up crashing to the ground. I quickly looked back to see the cube preparing another shot.

 

“Move!”, I exclaimed. Voltron quickly flew off out of the way. As we flew, Lance suggested using the sword to cut through it. We all quickly agreed it to be the best plan. We formed the sword and headed straight back for the cube. While dodging the shots, Voltron was able to get close enough to slice right through the cube. Slicing it in half.

 

Success! As we looked up though, we saw the halves just turn into separate cubes. Shiro ordered to re-engage. We sliced through the cubes again, separating them into four pieces. They, in turn, became separate cubes. They circled us and began to target Voltron. “Oh no.”, I said. They all fired and Voltron deflected and dodged the shots. 

 

“We can’t stay here.”, I told them. Voltron shot straight up, right into another cube. The shot hit the shield and as we dodged right. We were hit in the back by another cube. “We can’t fight them like this!”, Shiro said, “We need to split up! Back into Lions!” 

 

Lance tried freezing the cubes but they immediately broke out of it. They shot back the ice beam, encasing the Blue Lion head in ice. Keith used the fire of the red lion to melt the ice. “There doesn’t seem to be any way to stop them.”, Shiro said, “But we cannot let this weapon get into Zarkon’s hands.” 

 

I suddenly heard a scream and looked to see the Green Lion being caught in the crossfire of two of the cubes. “PIDGE!”, we all shouted as the lion went crashing down to the woods. “I’m going down to check on him.”, I told Shiro. “But we can’t land.”, Shiro said. “Who said anything about landing.”, I replied. He looked back. “Zas, don’t!”, he told me, “You’ll be caught in the crossfire of the cubes.” “Shiro, I’m the Doctor.”, I replied, “Pidge’s health and wellbeing is my responsibility, as well as the rest of you. It’s my job.”

 

He stared at me. “I’ll be fine.”, I assured him, “Open the jaw.” I headed down and walked onto the pathway through the lion’s jaw. I could hear the blasts of the lasers being shot all around me. I breathed. “It’s gonna be ok. It’s gonna be ok.”, I told myself. I loaded up the Green Lion’s beacon into my map and dived. As I sped down to the ground, I turned and kept myself balanced towards the lion. 

 

“Zas, to your right!”, Keith shouted. I looked and saw a beam coming my way. I fired up the jetpack and shot upwards as the beam narrowly missed me. I looked back to it to see the Red Lion keeping it busy. “Thanks, Keith.”, I said as I continued my descent into the forest. I heard Hunk asking if Pidge was okay. In response, I heard Pidge’s groaning through the comm. 

 

“Hold on, Pidge. I’m coming.”, I said as I got quite close to the path of the crash. When I was close enough to the ground, I used my jetpack to speed me to the Green Lion. I entered the cockpit and saw Pidge coming around. “Pidge.”, I exclaimed as I immediately checked him out. There was no sign go external injuries. I quickly hooked up my CMS to check on him. 

 

“Ok, Pidge. Heart rate is healthy. No sign of internal injury. Electrical impulses are a bit spiky though.”, I examined as I checked her details. That’s odd. There are more sections. Mostly about the more intimate areas of the body, but that’d only happen if the patient was a………………………….OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

 

I thought back to the picture on Pidge’s laptop. The boy was Pidge’s brother, I knew that the girl looked familiar. “So, you’re a girl.”, I noticed, “Didn’t know that. My bad, but we’ll discuss it later, ok.” I activated my comm. “Pidge is fine.”, I told him, “He, I mean she’s just got some small irregular electrical activity in the brain but she’ll live.”

 

“Stay with her, Zas.”, Shiro told me. “I will.”, I replied. I turned round to see Pidge’s eyes slowly opening. As I was about to say something, another voice interrupted, “Pidge, Zas, can you hear me?”

 

“Yeah, I can hear you.”, Pidge replied. “Me too.”, I confirmed. “Wait, how am I hearing you right now?”, Pidge asked. “That’s not important right now.”, Ryner answered, “We need to get your lion back up and running.” “I think we can heal your lion’s body.”, she continued, “but you must bond with its spirit if it is to fly again.” “But I thought we already bonded.”, Pidge replied. “Your bond must be stronger.”, Ryner said.

 

I looked at Pidge and saw her close her eyes. “Come on, girl.”, Pidge said, “I need you.” I wanted to help and so I slowly took Pidge’s hand and tried to see if thinking about the bond could help. “Remember what I said.”, Ryner guided, “You, the lion, the Olkari. We are all made of the same essence.”

 

As we focused on the bond, we could hear our struggling teammates in the back of our heads. They were in trouble and we were stuck on the ground. It felt like pure agony to listen and not be able to help. I could feel the tears in my eyes at the cries of pain I could hear. “Come on, lion.”, I thought, “They need you. _Pidge_ needs you.” As we focused, I felt a sort of tingly warmth within me. It felt like something calling out. It felt powerful. I see white and open my eyes to see the Green Lion, roaring tall and proud.

 

We laughed as we heard it roar. “Let’s go help the others.”, I said. Pidge nodded and with extreme determination, we raced to our friend’s rescue. As we approached, we saw the other lions on the ground, fizzing with electricity as the cubes cornered them. 

 

“Guys, hang on!”, Pidge said. “Rescue team’s here.”, I told them. “PIDGE, ZAS!”, they shouted with glee. The cube’s fired on us, but we dodged them with magnificent ease. We shot up into the air with a deafening boom as we got on top of the cubes. “Whoa, Pidge. What’s going on? You’re booking!”, Hunk asked. “I’m not sure.”, Pidge replied, “But I feel more connected with my lion than ever!” The new feeling wasn’t contained to Pidge, I was feeling it too. I felt a surge of power within me, rising like a sun out of the darkness.

 

“I know what I have to do.”, Pidge said. I don’t know why and I don’t know how but I knew the plan, I knew about the new ability. “Let’s give them some Olkari power.”, I said as Pidge formed the cannon and shot at one of the cubes. From the blast zone, a giant tree spouted and engulfed the cube.

 

The other cubes tried to take us down, but we welcomed the challenge. One by one, every single cube was covered in branches and trees. “That was AMAZING!”, I exclaimed. 

 

“Vines.”, Hunk said, “Well, that is not the way I thought a giant cube of death would go down.” I heard explosions and looked to the city to see the Olkari fighting back against the Galra and taking back the city. “Yes.”, I cheered. I grabbed Pidge in a hug. “We did it!”, I exclaimed. It wasn’t long before we saw the command ship lift into the air and leave the planet. The Olkari cheered as the planet was once again theirs.

 

Soon, everyone had calmed down and we had gone to talk with Ryner again. “I want to thank you all”, she said, “You helped us get our home back. And, for that, we will never be able to repay you.” “Just promise me that when it’s time to take the fight to Zarkon, we can count on the Olkari for help.”, Shiro replied.

 

Ryner took his hand and shook it, “Now and forever.” She turned to Pidge. “And you.”, Ryner addressed her, “The spirit of the Olkari resides in you. The bond between you and your lion has grown stronger than ever.”

 

Pidge smiled, “Without you, I would never have been able to unlock my lion’s hidden power. Thank you.” Ryner nodded and turned to me. “Doctor.”, she addressed me. I smiled widely, “Oh, come on.” We grabbed each other in a hug and laughed. “Thank you, Zas.”, she whispered, “Your mother would be so proud.”

 

“Tell you what.”, I whispered back, “You call her, Ryner. You call her and tell her I’m ok and that I’m with some good people.” I took a breath before continuing, “And tell her that I’ll see her soon.”

“I will tell her with so much joy in my heart.”, she replied. “Thank you.”, I told her. 

 

It was time to leave and as we boarded the lions. Ryner stopped me. “One last thing, Zas.”, Ryner said. “What is it?”, I asked her. “After the battle, when I saw Pidge and the bond within her, I was so proud.” “And?”, I asked. “I was then surprised.”, she answered, “Because I saw the same bond in you.”

 

“Wait, what?”, I asked her. “Zas, when you helped Pidge strengthen her bond with the lion. The bond was made, yes, but it was made through the both of you. Zas, it may be early to tell, but it could be possible that the Green Lion now has two pilots.”

 

Being shocked would be the least possible way to describe it. More like downright terrified. Dammit, I’m a doctor, not a pilot. “Thanks for telling me, Ryner.”, I told her, “I’ll talk about it with the others.” She nodded, “It was good to see you.” “And you.”, I replied before climbing back into the lion.

 

The whole ride back was spent in silence as I pondered what Ryner told me. I read up on Voltron during my first couple of days; according to my research, having two pilots for the same lion has never happened before. So what does this mean?

I pretty much stayed silent as we made our way to the bridge. Pidge was sitting on the centre pedestal with all of us standing around her. “Good work, Pidge!”, Shiro complimented. “You know, it’s weird.”, Pidge said, “I’ve always been a tech junkie. That’s how I connected with the world. But, for the first time, I feel connected with everything.”

 

I knew how he felt. After the bond was made, it felt like I was bigger now in a sort of way, like I was everywhere without even moving. “I guess it’s like Ryner said.”, Pidge continued, “We’re all made up of the same cosmic dust.”

 

“So, that means we’re all related?”, Keith asked, “This ship, those stars, the Olkari. Even the Galra.” Keith smiled at that last sentence like it meant something to him. Interesting. “Uh-oh.”, Hunk said, “I think Keith just blew his own mind.” We all laughed at that.

 

“Well, that was a productive trip.”, Coran said, “Look at all these cubes they gave me.” He pulled out the cube from earlier and threw it into the air. Next thing we know, the cube splits up into many copies. “Oooh no.”, I said. “Coran, Coran, the gorgeous man.”, Coran said. The cubes repeated it. “Hey, Shiro, Keith. Can I talk to you guys.?”, I asked them. The cubes repeated what I said. They both said yeah and we were about to walk out when we heard the castle’s alarm. We ran forward to see that there was a large Galra fleet right now.

 

“And the day was going so good.”, I said.

 

“And the day was going do good.”, the cubes repeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, don't forget to leave feedback and kudos. It helps me makes the story better for both me and you.


	7. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. (2x05-06)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As our heroes are pursued across the universe, new revelations come to light and more hilarity ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy the new chapter everyone.

“How did he find us?!”, Allura exclaimed as the alarms continued to blare due to the giant quiznaking fleet outside. “His commanders must’ve radioed him from Olkarion.”, Keith answered. “We need to wormhole now.”, Shiro told everyone, “Everyone to your stations.”

Everyone quickly followed his order. “We’ve got to get some distance between us and Zarkon.”, Shiro said as he sat at his station, “This could be the fight of our lives.” Suddenly, the castle was rocked by the rumble of explosions as the fleet fired on us. It sent me flying to the floor. “Ah!”, I yelped as I landed. “You alright?”, Shiro asked. I groaned, “I’m fine. Just get us out of here.”

 

“That’s sure a lot of fighters.”, Hunk pointed out. I quickly ran to the window, where I saw the army of fighters. There was too many to count and it was to see the fighters through the explosions. “Allura, can you evade the fighters?”, Shiro asked, “We can’t have them following us through the wormhole.” Allura said that she’ll try. She increased the power of the main engines, sending us forward. She also raised the particle barrier to decrease the amount of damage the castle was taking.

 

The fighters, however, were quickly in hot pursuit. Shiro started laying down covering fire with Hunk and Lance. I could see through Shiro’s screen that they were using unmanned drones like the simulators soldiers would use. I approve. Shiro looked like he was having a hard time keeping it up though.

 

Pidge informed Lance of a few fighters overhead. He went up to face them but Keith knocked him out of the way and shot down the fighters. Keith’s reasoning was that Lance was being too slow. Lance replied by bumping Keith’s drone. This led to them bumping each other in a sort of drone fight.

 

“GUYS!”, I exclaimed. “Stay in your zones.”, Shiro told them. Shiro then asked Hunk about the defences. Hunk couldn’t give a proper assessment though, because he has ‘tired eyes’. Shiro sympathised with them, but he told them to stay focused on the jump. Keith asked when we’d do that.

 

“They’re still too close.”, Coran answered, “We need to gain more speed.” “I’ve got an idea!”, Allura announced, “Hold on.” The castle suddenly jerked forward, sending me to the floor again as the castle swerved. “I really need a chair with seatbelts in here.”, I muttered to myself.

 

I looked up and saw that Allura was speeding the castle towards a nearby moon. “Allura what are you doing?”, Pidge asked. “I’m going to use this moon’s gravity to gain speed and put some distance between us and Zarkon.”, Allura explained. If we entered the moon’s gravity, it should pull us in with great force, creating more speed and power for the ship.

 

The castle began to circle the moon, the fighters still close behind. We all grunted as we held on to something as the castle was caught in the gravity of the moon. I held onto Shiro’s station like it was a luxury ship on clearance. After a few ticks, Coran announced, “We’re clear to wormhole.” Allura closed her eyes and quickly opened the wormhole to which we blasted into.

 

As we entered the wormhole, we were clear of the fleet. Buuuuttttt… “We got away from Zarkon; how come we’re still on alert?”, Lance asked the big question. Shiro asked Coran about the malfunction. “Oh, no!”, Coran exclaimed, “Teleuduv lens malfunction! We’re going to exit the wormhole sooner than we planned!”

 

“Well, that can’t be a good thing.”, I said as the exit appeared and spat us back out into space. We were currently in an unknown region, the only thing in sight is a range of ice looking sculptures. Poorly made sculptures at that. 

 

“Where are we?”, Lance asked, “Looks like some sort of iceberg graveyard.” “Coran, what’s the status?”, Allura panted. I looked at her and saw that she was immensely sweating and looked out of breath. “Checking that now.”, Coran said. I walked up to Allura, “Are you alright?” “I’m fine.”, she spat. 

She seriously still doesn’t trust me, that’s just cold. “We didn’t make it to our exit point.”, Coran informed us, “But we’re several galaxies from Zarkon’s fleet.” I heard a gasp from Allura and saw her collapse on the spot. 

 

“Allura!”, I exclaimed as I ran back to her and held her up. “Don’t…ugh…touch me.”, Allura rasped. “Don’t you start that now, you’re clearly unwell, Allura.”, I told her, “I’m a doctor, let me help.” The others surrounded us. “You must rest.”, Coran told her, “You’ve been exerting way too much energy.”

 

“I agree with Coran.”, I agreed, “It may seem easy, but the more you do in a short period of time, the sooner it’s gonna cause damage.” Coran stood up and began to ran out, “I’ll go check on the main turbine and figure out what’s going-” Coran yelped as he slipped and sliced into the wall. “Coran?”, I asked. Coran groaned as he stood back from the wall. “I’m fine.”, Coran answered, “Look, I tell you what, I’ve probably hit a slippery spot on the ground there.”

 

He stood up and pointed at the slippery substance on the floor, “Someone please wipe that up there!” Allura shifted herself into a sitting position. “You’re sweating.”, Allura said, “You might have a case of the slipperies.”

 

“What?”, Coran exclaimed, “No! No, that’s an old person virus, and I’m not old. I’m young.” “How old are you?”, I asked him. “None of your business”, Coran replied. As he spoke, we saw bubbles of the slippery fluid rising all over his body, which he quickly hid. “Well, young-ish.”, Coran mentioned. 

 

“What’s the slipperies?”, I asked. “It’s a common Altean virus that occurs _later_ in life.”, Allura explained, “It’s not harmful and usually lasts only a couple of days.” Coran took a few steps every couple of ticks as his body left puddle after puddle wherever he stood. “But it causes one’s body to recreate extremely slick fluid.” The others took steps back as we all ewed at the fact. 

 

“Yes, it is gross, so it’s a good thing I don’t have it.”, Coran replied. Pidge ran behind us as I think she was close to puking. No, wait! Correction! Pidge has officially puked on the bridge. “Coran it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”, Allura told Coran.

 

“I’m not embarrassed because I don’t have it.”, Coran replied, “And, now, I’m actually going to leave because I’ve got to fix the main turbine.” Despite his attempts to walk, the puddle kept Coran on the spot. As he noticed, he tried increasing speed which only caused him to slip and slide through the doors as he shouted, ‘Quiznak!’.

 

“Wait, how come you don’t know what the slippers are, Zas?”, Hunk asked me. “Well, back in medical school. Everyone believed that the Alteans were still extinct.”, I told them, “So, they no longer felt it necessary to include Altean diseases and viruses on the curriculum.” “Good news for me though.”, I mentioned, “I get to learn more new things.” 

 

“All right.”, Shiro said, “Since Zarkon has no idea where we are, this is the perfect time to focus on our next step. ” Everyone groaned. “Do you mean cleaning up Pidge’s puke and Coran’s fluids?”, I asked. He gave me a confused look, “More like maybe trying to find that secret group. The Blade of Marmora. Pidge, where are those coordinates?” 

 

Pidge struggled as she tried to pull up the info. “Ugh, I’m so tired, my brain’s not working.”, she groaned. “Yeah, neither is mine.”, Lance added. “I thought that was its default setting.”, I joked but saw no one laughing, “Sorry.”

 

Suddenly, the monitor showed an image of the still slippery Coran. “Hello, all.”, Coran greeted us, “I’ve checked the engines.” “That was fast.”, Pidge commented. “Well, I slipped right do-”, Coran replied as he slipped onto the floor with a nasty bruise on his head, “I mean, hurried down. Anyway, the good news is, the Galra fighters didn’t do much damage I flushed the turbine and it’s fine.”

 

“Yay.”, I cheered. “Not quite Zas”, he replied, “the bad news is that the teleduv, or wormholer as you Earthlings call it is in quite a bad shape. Several scaultrite lens-stones of the magnifying beam generator are cracked.” “Oh, nay.”, I said.

 

Coran hummed in agreement. “As you know, the magnifying beam generator uses a crystal to convert Altean energy into usable fuel.”, Coran explained, “That supplies the power needed to wormhole.” “Ooh, fun science lesson.”, I clapped. “Can you go one conversation without saying weird stuff?”, Keith asked me.

 

I laughed, “No.” “Well, anyway, I need to remove the cracked lenses and readjust their trajectory temporarily until we replace them.”, Coran said, “I’ll also need to divert power to make up for the lost energy. Anyway, it’s going to take at least a quintet.” Everyone looked close to being grossed all the way to puke city. Oh dear! 

 

“All right.”, Shiro said, “We’ll hide the ship and get some rest while Coran comes up with a workaround. Tomorrow, we’ll be sharper and re-focused.” “Yay, bedtime!”, I cheered. Everyone agreed and headed off to sleep. As we all headed off though, I decided to have a lovely chat with Shiro. “Hi, Shiro.”, I greeted him.

 

“Hey, Zas.”, Shiro replied, “What’s up?” “Well, it’s just that we never got to have that talk earlier when Zarkon showed up.”, I answered. “Oh, yeah. You wanted to talk to me and Keith.”, Shiro remembered. “I was hoping to talk to you about what happened on Olkarion.”, I explained. “What about it?”, he asked. 

 

“Well, I thought it’d be nice if we had a celebratory snack to congratulate you on being one with nature.”, I said. “All I did was hold my hand up to a tree.”, he replied. “And make a butt-kicking wooden mech at the same time.”, I beamed, “That’s just awesome.” “Hey, I had your help.”, Shiro replied.

 

“Don’t be modest.”, I told him, “You found the thought to power it. I’m proud of you.” He smiled, “Thanks.” “Hey, speaking of which, what was the thought you used anyway?”, I asked, “I’m dying to know.” His smile lowered at the question. “Just the thought of helping others.”, he clearly lied. “I thought it was a guy from what you were saying.”, I replied. 

 

“What do you mean?”, he asked. “I heard you while you were concentrating.”, I answered, “You whispered ‘Adam’. Who’s he?” He seemed to hesitate to answer. “He’s a good man.”, Shiro whispered, “And a good friend.” From the way you could see the tears in his eyes, it was clear Adam was more than a friend.

 

“Can you tell me about him?”, I asked, “We can talk about it in the kitchen.” He glanced at me and nodded. “Come on.”, I told him. 

 

I retrieved a bunch of these delicious treats called ‘cookies’ from the cupboard and sat down on the couch next to Shiro. “Here you go.”, I passed him a cookie and he took a bite out of it. It really helped him as he had the energy to form a smile again. I smiled in response. 

 

“So, come on. Tell us about this special ‘Adam’.”, I said. “Well, we met in the Garrison.”, he answered, “We were both teachers there.” “You’re a teacher?”, I marvelled, “I should’ve known, coming from the protective space dad.” He laughed at that. “We met in the Garrison and the next day, we were like best friends.” “That’s wonderful.”, I commented. “It was.”, Shiro replied, “We had each other’s back in school and on missions into space. There’d be no one I could rely more on than him.”

 

“He sounds like a swell guy.”, I replied. “He was. Over time, though, it felt as though he was more to me than a best friend. I started having…strong feelings for him.”, he continued. I gasped, “You were into him.” “Yeah. At first, I wasn’t sure of it. But soon, it became clear that I was seeing Adam as more.”, he confirmed, “It wouldn’t be long before I confessed my feelings for him.” “And…what happened?”, I asked him as I held my breath for the answer.

 

He looked at me and smiled, “He felt the same way.” I squealed like a little girl, “Oh my word. You two are in love.” He nodded, “We had our first kiss and I couldn’t have been happier than at that moment. After a few months, we even got engaged.” “And you got married and lived happily ever after?”, I asked. He frowned instead, “Actually, later on, Adam started to feel angry at how I was going on missions without him. He felt left out.”

 

“I’m so sorry.”, I apologised. He thanked me and continued, “One day, I was asked by a close friend of mine to accompany him and his son on a mission to Kerberos. The same mission where we’d be captured by Galra.” “Oh no”, I yelped. “That’s not the worst part.”, he whispered, “Before I went on the mission, Adam had enough. He told me that if I went on the mission, that I shouldn’t expect to find him when I get back.”

 

Shiro’s eyes were now close to crying. “Oh, Shiro. I’m so sorry.”, I apologised as I grabbed Shiro in a comforting hug, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.” I could hear Shiro’s sniffles as I could feel his tears drip down from his face onto my shoulder. I suddenly felt his hands on my back as I could feel him trying to hold back the tears. Trying to stay strong.

 

“Thank you.”, he breathed. “It’s ok.”, I whispered, “It’s ok. Just let it out. Just let it out.” I could hear him crying on my shoulder. “I shouldn’t have gone.”, he cried, “I shouldn’t have left him.” I knew what he was feeling. Sadness and regret for a decision he made that he wished he could erase. We all have those decisions. Where we make hard choices that we regret for the rest of our lives, the choices that shape us to be who we are today. For me, that choice was joining the Galra army. 

 

If I hadn’t have decided to become a medic. I wouldn’t have been deployed into the army, I’d still be with mom. I wouldn’t have met Sendak and experienced the pain and suffering that followed. Shiro pulls back from the hug. “I’m sorry.”, he apologised, “It’s just...after I left Earth. After I got captured, I never once thought about Adam. Not even a single mention of him.”

 

“This is the first time you’ve thought about him.”, I realised, “I’m sorry, Shiro.” “I shouldn’t have gone on that mission.”, he said, “If I’d just said no, maybe I wouldn’t have lost him.” I read up on the files of the team a couple of quintets ago. “Shiro, if you hadn’t have gone on the Kerberos mission, Voltron wouldn’t be where it is right now.”, I told him, “Lance and the others would still be on Earth, Allura and Coran would’ve stayed in stasis and the Galra would probably find Voltron and wreak havoc.”

 

“But did it have to come at a cost of losing him?”, he asked me. “I…I honestly don’t know.”, I told him, “But if he were here, I’d bet he’d tell you to help, to save the universe and help others? He’d be so proud of you.” 

 

He smiled and whispered, “Thank you.” I nodded and raised up a hand, “Come on. I think we’ve been up way past our bedtime.” He glanced at me, still with that glistening smile. He took my hand and I walked him back to his bedroom. On the way, he wiped his face to clean it of tears. It was understandable. He wants to stay strong, help improve team morale. It wasn’t long before we arrived and went into Shiro’s room. 

 

“Thank you, Zas.”, Shiro said, “I needed that. Up until now, I’ve been putting off Adam to focus on the mission but, talking about it. It really helped.” “Shiro, it’s no problem.”, I told him, “The fact that you regret your bad decisions shows how you want to improve from them in the future. ” “Wise words.”, Shiro commented. “Thanks, but I’m no motivational speaker.”, I replied. 

 

He laughed a little. “Yeah.”, he agreed, “Well, I guess I should be saying good night then.” “Oh, you think I’m gonna leave you alone after what I did?”, I asked, “I’m staying with you tonight. To keep you company.” For a tick, I thought I saw a light blush in Shiro’s face. “You-You don’t need to do that, Zas.”, he stuttered. “Nonsense!”, I exclaimed, “I made you upset; it’s only right that I stay and keep you comforted during the night.”

 

I laid down a spare sheet from the cupboard on the floor and grabbed a pillow. “There we go, all ready.”, I said. As I tried to lie down though, Shiro stopped me. “Wait.”, he said. I stood up and he told me to wait for a tick as he did something to his bed. He pulled it out and it became a double bed.

 

“The beds extend?”, I asked. Shiro nodded, “If you are staying here, you shouldn’t be lying on the floor. It’s only appropriate you sleep in the bed.” Now I felt like blushing. “T-t-thanks Shiro, that’s really sweet of you.”, I thanked him. “It’s no problem.”, he replied, “After you.” I nodded and crawled into the side of the bed by the wall. Shiro followed and got into the other side.

 

He turned to face me, “Thanks again. It was nice to have someone to talk to about this.” I smiled, “You’re welcome.” Shiro closed his eyes as I could feel his breath on my face with every snore he had. I don’t think my face could feel any warmer as it is. I just watched and smiled at how peaceful Shiro looked while sleeping. It wasn’t long before I went to dreamland myself.

 

I awoke with a sudden jolt as everything in the room rumbled. I looked around and saw that Shiro was gone! “Shiro?”, I called out, “Shiro” I jumped out of bed and ran to check the bridge as another rumble rocked the ship and alarms blared all over. I stopped by a window and looked out to see Galra fighters flying by followed by the appearance of the particle barrier.

 

“Oh, no.”, I said. I started sprinting towards the bridge. Then, another bigger rumble rocked the ship as I saw the castle crash past the ice. The lights then started flickering before dying down. The hallways were pitch black. 

 

“Hello!”, I shouted, “Guys!” Everything started to get colder and when I looked back outside, the particle barrier went down. “Is anyone here?”, I called out. In response, the entire ship started shaking and rumbling as the blue glow of the wormhole surrounded the castle. It was a few short ticks before the castle exited the wormhole. The lights flickered back on, allowing me to find my way back to the bridge. 

 

As I got through the doors, I panted as I regained my composure. “What the quiznak is going on?”, I asked. “Zarkon found us and the wormholer’s more broken than before.”, Lance answered. “Why are you and Keith in nothing but shorts?”, I asked him.

 

“We had a disagreement with an Altean pool.”, Keith answered. “What?”, I asked. “Never mind.”, he replied. 

 

“Zarkon keeps finding us.”, Shiro said, “It’s like he knows how to track us down. Maybe he planted some kind of tracking device.” Allura pulled up a monitor. “It’s nothing on the ship.”, she replied, “The Castle would have detected any tracking devices. Maybe they didn’t plan a thing, maybe they planted a spy.” She glanced at me. “Don’t you dare.”, I told her.

 

“Until we figure out how he’s doing it, we should assume that he can show up at any minute.”, Shiro decided, “So stay alert.” We immediately heard snoring and looked back to see Hunk asleep. A snot bubble that formed in his nose popped, waking him up. “Oh, man!”, Hunk exclaimed, “Oh, what’s going on? What are you guys doing? What are you looking at?”

 

“You woke yourself up snoring.”, I told him. He lowered his head, “My bad.” Shiro pulled up a communication with Coran and Pidge and asked for good news. Coran replied with good news about his slipperies. The teleduv, however, was overloaded by the last jump. In simple terms, it’s busted. However, there’s a metallic storm ahead of us which can hide the Castle with the interference it gives off.

 

Shiro agreed and we headed into the eye of the storm. As we parked the Castle in the eye, Allura congratulated Pidge, “We’re essentially invisible to any radar, radio waves, universal scans or any other technology.” Just then, the alarms blared yet again as we spotted a Galra command ship at the top of the storm. 

 

“But the storm’s interference should have cloaked us to any technology.”, I said, “Maybe…” The fighters flew down into the eye, ready to shoot on sight. “I don’t know how he found us, but it definitely wasn’t with normal instruments.”, Pidge said. Dammit. There’s no way Zarkon could have used tech so it only leaves them. If Zarkon is using them, then there must be something on the ship that they’re using to keep track of the Castle.

 

“It’s me.”

 

We turn back and look at Allura. 

 

“It’s been me all along. That’s how they found us on planet Arus.”

 

The Castle continuously rumbled from the forces of the storm and the fighters. “It doesn’t matter, Princess.”, Shiro said, “We’re in this together. We’re gonna get out together.” “Uh, how?”, Hunk asked, “We’re trapped.” 

 

“We need to form Voltron and go through the storm.”, Shiro replied. “The storm?!, Lance exclaimed, “What are you, nuts?” “Yeah”, Hunk stammered, “What do you mean? Why would we do it?” “It’s risky, I know, but it’s our only chance.”, Shiro answered, “We have to go through the storm then lure Zarkon’s ship away, giving Allura enough time to get into open space.” 

 

“Then what?”, Allura asked. “Then we wormhole away.”, Shiro replied, “Coran, remember how you said getting this Castle to wormhole is impossible? Well, I need you to do the impossible.” We all ran to the hangar, eager to get to Voltron.

 

“Doesn’t Zarkon want Voltron?”, I panted while running next to Shiro, “Won’t we be just giving him what he wants?” “Unless you can think of another plan, we don’t have any other options.”, Shiro answered. “I’m just saying, we gotta be careful near Zarkon’s ship. Trust me, he’s willing to do anything to get Voltron, _anything_.”

 

As Voltron formed, We flew past the swarm of Galra fighters, allowing them to follow us. Allowing the Castle time to get out of the storm. “Uh, I can barely see out of this mess.”, I said as the winds and rocks of the storm covered the visors.

 

“They can’t follow us in this storm though!”, Keith replied, “It’s tearing them apart!” I looked back to see the line of explosions coming from the fighters. However, Voltron rumbled as we were hit by a few rocks of the debris. To counter it, Voltron formed the shield and the sword while Hunk and Lance engaged the lower thrusters. 

 

We shot out of the storm quickly and was ready for anyone who came our way. Although, I wasn’t sure how well we’d fare against a ship that’s approximately 50 times bigger than us. Soon, Zarkon’s ship started to move toward us. As it did so, we saw the Castle make a swift exit.

 

“It worked. They escaped!”, Hunk cheered. Voltron suddenly stopped as I felt a sort of dark energy engulf it. “What’s going on?”, Keith asked. “My lion!”, Hunk exclaimed. I saw Shiro groaning and sweating as if something was fighting him. “Shiro!”, I exclaimed as I checked on him. “Zarkon.”, he groaned, “Zarkon’s taking control of the Black Lion again! Fall back!”

 

Voltron engaged every thruster and engine it had, but it was a great struggle. You could see the difficulty of it on the paladins’ faces. Zarkon was taking the lion and hurting them and the lions. Hurting Shiro. I could feel it all. It was terrible, it was awful.

 

I growled before letting out a shout towards the ship behind us. “LEAVE THEM ALONE!”, I shouted. At that moment, it felt as if I had a sudden nap because I started to feel a sort of strength through me. I could feel it fly from my body, heading to Zarkon’s ship. As it impacted, I saw the ship being pushed back by explosions along it. Suddenly, everyone stopped grunting, which means Zarkon lost the lion.

 

“Go, go!”, I exclaimed as everyone used the rockets to gain distance. As I looked back, I could see the Castle coming in for an attack. But it made me wonder, if the Castle and Voltron are the only ships we have, then what attacked Zarkon first?

 

“I forgot how intense Zarkon’s connection to the Black Lion is.”, Shiro said, “We have to keep our distance or risk losing Voltron.” “You forgot?”, I asked, “That doesn’t really seem like the kind of important thing you’d forget.” “Let’s disband and get back to the Castle.”, Shiro ordered. Voltron separated into the lions as we headed for the Castle as fast as possible.

 

As we entered the hangar, I could feel a great anger coming from Zarkon’s ship. How do I know that? More importantly, how am I feeling that? “Why haven’t we wormholed yet?”, Keith asked. “Because we can’t!”, Coran answered, “We’re missing several scaultrite lens-stones.” 

 

“They’ve shattered!”

 

“GONE”

 

“Don’t exist!”

 

“Sloven-day-ho (That’s Altean for gone).”

 

Pidge seemed to recognise ‘scaultrite’ though, she said she’d seen it somewhere before. According to her, Hunk was using the material to make cookies. Hmmm, cookies. “Focus Zas”, I thought. We quickly gathered up the cookies from the Kitchen and laid it down in the wormhole room.

 

“Unbelievable!”, Coran exclaimed, “These cookies do have trace elements of scaultrite.” “Could they work?”, I asked. “They might be able to hold for one jump!”, he answered, “But we’d still need several people actually physically holding them. And if the trajectories were calculated just so.”

 

We were all placed in the wormholer at different positions. Shiro was holding out two cookies while clenching a third between his knees. I was right above him, holding onto the ceiling while holding a cookie in my hand and between my toes. Keith, Lance and Pidge were doing the same except Keith only got the one cookie. Hunk sat his legs out, holding the cookie in his hand like a book. Everyone except him was grunting as we maintained our positions.

 

“It just warms my heart that people are enjoying my cookies.”, Hunk said. “I’m not enjoying them.”, I replied, “They actually make me feel quite stressed” Coran place a second cookie between Hunks feet.

 

“Okay, there.”, Coran said, “Now, nobody move if you want to live.” Another rumble shook the ship. “I think I moved! I think I moved!”, Lance exclaimed. “Well then, move back to where you think you were”, Coran replied, “Okay, now, I’m going to monitor the beam from out there.” Coran slipped out of the chamber.

 

“Wait, Coran!”, Hunk said, “How dangerous is this?” “Honestly, this is the most dangerous thing I’ve ever seen or heard of.”, Coran answered, “But since we’re probably gonna die anyway, what the heck, let’s give it a shot!” The door began to shut. “Good luck gentlemen and gentlelady.”, Coran saluted us, “It’s been a pleasure. Don’t touch the lasers!”

 

The door slammed shut and we were ready to begin. “Oh dear.”, I muttered. The end of the chamber began to light up as we were prepared to jump. Lance ranted about how we were gonna die. I tried not to listen. A beam suddenly shot from the end and began to bounce off the scaulrites. When it reached Lance’s cookie, however, the beam shut down abruptly and luckily so did his screaming.

 

Soon, the door opened and Coran quickly slipped by us, explaining that he needed to shine the stones using his fluids. Ew. 

 

He quickly placed the fluid on the stones as Allura counted down till the wormhole opening. Coran quickly whizzed by all of us. But as he reached Hunk.

 

“One.”, Allura said.

The laser beamed back up and this time was working, it was bouncing off all the scaultrites. We all screamed as the laser went everywhere, I couldn’t even see if Coran had succeeded or not. I hope he did.

 

“Come on, work!”, I exclaimed as I held my position with all my strength. We grunted as the force of the laser was quite powerful. As the light began to engulf the chamber, we all screamed as we were pulled into the light and soon felt pain all over our bodies. 

 

I don’t know how long it lasted till it was finally over. I felt exhausted, everything felt painful. I didn’t notice my loosening grip to the ceiling. In a tick, I fell and crashed onto the floor. At least I think it was the floor. “Owww”, I whined. I heard a groaning from beneath me and slowly looked to see that I hadn’t crashed on the floor. Instead, I landed on Shiro.

 

“Sorry.”, I apologised. “It’s ok.”, he wheezed. I used whatever strength I had left to roll off him as I felt a sudden warmth to my face and a small smile on my face. But then I felt stinging and it quickly went away.

 

The door opened to reveal Allura, “Great work, team! We made it! Huh?” Lance dropped from the ceiling too as everyone looked scorched by the laser. “It feels like we didn’t.”, I coughed. 

 

Allura helped us one by one to the bridge as we all recovered from the wormholer. We all decided to grab a shower and change before we continued. It felt so relaxing after what happened with the scaultrite. As I walked back, I noticed Shiro in the hallway. “Hey, Shiro.”, I called. 

 

He turned. “Zas”, he greeted, “You seem to be making a habit of running into me.” “It’s a small ship.”, I replied. I caught up with him before I continued, “Hey, um when I woke up, you weren’t there. I was worried something bad happened.” “I’m sorry. I couldn’t sleep.”, he answered, “I thought I left a note.”

 

“I woke up when Zarkon started attacking.”, I replied, “Didn’t really have time to sit down and read.” 

 

We laughed. For a few ticks after, we didn’t say anything. “Um, thanks again for staying with me last night.”, Shiro thanked, “It did kinda help.” “Please, I had to stay with you after my meddling in your personal life.”, I answered him.

 

“But I did need that.”, Shiro replied, “I just didn’t realise I forgot him in the process of being a leader.” “It wasn’t your fault.”, I told him, “You wanted to touch the stars, but he wanted to keep you on Earth. If I were him, I would’ve encouraged to reach out and be in the great frontier.”

 

“But what can I do now?”, Shiro asked, “Ever since last night, it feels like there’s something in me that’s just…empty.” “Maybe it’s a sign that it’s time to move on. An earth expression I’ve heard from my mom is, ‘There’s plenty of fish in the sea.’.”, I said.

 

“You may be right.”, Shiro told me, “But how can I do that? My choices are pretty much limited to the team. They’re the only other humans out here.” “Oi!”, I exclaimed, “Who says you have to get with a human, you can get with any species. One time, I used to have this fling with this Arielian guy. Yuri was his name.”

 

“He was so sweet and kind.”, I continued, “But he had serious commitment issues. Eventually, I caught him cheating on me. Our thing was pretty much over then. But did I let that stop me? No, I persevered and I moved on. I don’t focus much on it, but I’m definitely looking for the perfect guy.”

 

“I promise you, Shiro, I will help you find your next boyfriend.”, I told him, “And if I can’t, well…you can just settle for me.” I laughed at the blush that appeared on his face. “Has anyone ever said you look cute when you blush?”, I asked teasingly. “M-m-maybe one step at a time.”, Shiro replied. I just laughed at his expression. “Oh, Shiro.”, I patted him on the back, “Finding you a new boyfriend is gonna be fun.”

 

_MEANWHILE SEVERAL GALAXIES AWAY….._

“We were close, sire, but it appears they were able to make a full jump.”, Haggar informed Zarkon. “There is no place in this universe beyond my vision’s reach.”, Zarkon replied, “Time is on my side. Set a course for Voltron.”

 

“There is one other thing, sire.”, Haggar mentioned, “While the Black Lion was within our reach, we felt an unknown powerful force that eliminated our hold and attacked the ship.”

 

“What are you implying?”, Zarkon asked.

 

“We believe the paladins…may have a possible magic user with them.”, Haggar explained, “If they do have a witch on their side, it can be quite dangerous when used against us.”

 

“Then find the user, Haggar.”, Zarkon ordered, “Recruit them to our ranks, or destroy them!”

 

“It will be done, sire.”, Haggar replied before leaving Zarkon alone. 

 

_BACK IN THE CASTLE OF LIONS…._

 

Allura called a meeting on the bridge to discuss Zarkon’s method of tracking us. Allura made the main point by saying it was her. “There’s no point in debating it further.”, she said, “Zarkon is clearly tracking us through me.” We all disagreed. “Why would that be so hard to believe?”, Allura asked, “Zarkon’s forces showed up on Arus only after I awoke.”

 

“She’s got a point.”, Lance said, “I would absolutely travel across the galaxy to find you.” “Not the time, Lance.”, I told him. “It’s not you, Princess Allura.”, Keith interjected, “It’s me.” “Because…?”, Hunk asked. “You gotta follow up your points with a reason, Keith.”, I told him. 

 

“I just think Zarkon must’ve imprinted on me during our fight or something.”, Keith explained. His face said otherwise. “Look, the fact is we don’t know how Zarkon is tracking us.”, Pidge said, “It could be through the Black Lion. Every time Zarkon gets close to it, Shiro has to fight him for control.”

 

“I agree with Pidge.”, I agreed. “That’s only when Zarkon is nearby.”, Coran replied, “No paladin has ever been able to connect with a lion over a vast distance.” “So, what are we going to do?”, Hunk asked. Shiro said that it didn’t matter because we were gonna be going after soon.

 

Pidge said that she came up with an algorithm using similarities between Galra attacks to find potential Galra hotspots. Everyone else just summarised it to a Galra finder. Pidge put the algorithm into a 3D hologram for the rest of us to view. It mapped out all the planets, stars and systems in the known universe.

 

“Oh, that’s beautiful.”, I commented. “The nearest ones are right here.”, Pidge said highlighting a spot in the hologram, “A planet called Taujeer.” “Then that’s where we’re headed.”, Shiro decided, “Everyone should get some sleep. Tomorrow, we’ll find the Galra fleet and take it out.” Everyone agreed.

 

As they left, I saw Keith standing by his station in a thinking stance. “Is everything okay?”, Shiro asked him. “Yeah.”, said Keith (the worst liar ever), “Why?” “You just seem a bit anxious.”, Shiro answered. “I’m fine. Just tired.”, Keith replied, “Like you said, I should get some sleep.” Keith walked away leaving me and Shiro alone. “I’m worried about him.”, I said.

 

“Me too.”, Shiro replied, “But if he’s bothered by something, he’ll tell us when he’s ready.” I nodded. “You know…Keith’s kinda hot, ain’t he?”, I asked him. “Zas!”, he exclaimed. I laughed, “Night Shiro.” And with that remark, I went off to bed for some long deserved beauty sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many things happened in this chapter. Blushing Shiro, sad therapy sessions and cute moments. As always, don't forget to leave feedback and Kudos! Byyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeee.


	8. A strong bond, a drunk awakening and a Kaltenecker. (Season 2, Episode 6-7-8)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As our heroes continue their epic struggle, new facts come to light and more mysteries appear. Like, why does Keith have a Blade of Marmora, how is Zas connected to the lions and what...IS...A COW?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey readers, this chapter took me a bit but I managed to get it finished. I managed to make this one super long to give you guys some more content this time around. 10,000 WORDS. New high score for me. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.
> 
> Warning though: This chapter contains drunk sex, a drunk Zas and Shiro and a cursing Shiro. LoL

At one point or another, you meet someone who’d tell you that there’s a meaning behind your dreams. Whether it’s predicting the future, telling you what to do or a warning of something bad. I never believed that, but this particular dream…may be a different story.

 

A roar echoed throughout the halls as I opened my eyes. I found myself standing in the hangar, with a weird glow coming from behind me. I turned round and saw the Lions standing in front of me with shining eyes (literally). I looked around and saw that I was the only one in here. I took a few steps forward cautiously as I tried to see what the lions was doing. 

 

They raised themselves as they stood on all four legs and slowly lowered their heads towards me as they seemed to focus down on me. “Uhhhhh, hi.”, I said. The lions in response roared with wild ferocity. I covered my eyes as I resisted against the winds generated by them. When I opened them, I was surrounded by the marching lines of the Galra masses. I looked down and found myself in my old uniform. 

 

I swear, I could puke at the sight of that uniform on me. It brings back many terrible memories. I suddenly heard a gasp and looked to see Keith in an identical uniform. I ran to him, hoping that maybe he could serve as a bit of sanity in this crazy dream. 

 

“Keith.”, I called. He looked up at me and I could see a rare sight on his face. Fear. He looked like he was ready to faint. As I got to him, I looked down and saw a Blade of Marmora in his hand. “Where did you get that?”, I asked. I could see him trying to formulate an answer with his mouth but there was nothing coming out. 

 

We looked down at the blade again. As he held it in his hand, we could see a face within the reflection of the blade.

 

“I can find you anywhere.”, Zarkon said as his eyes shone with a sinister purple. Keith vanished the very next moment. I called out for him but I didn’t see him anywhere. 

 

“Looking for someone?”, a voice whispered. I turned around and I saw him standing there, the same sadistic grin wiped across his face. “No.”, I whispered, “No. No. But you’re dead, I saw your ship crash.”

 

“You think death can stop me from reaching you?”, he asked, “Kismet.” “I am not your met.”, I snarled, “You monster.” “Ohh, kismet.”, he scoffed, “As long as I’m alive. You’ll always be my met.” Without warning, he dived for my neck. I screamed as I rose my head from my pillows.

 

I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing as I laid back down and felt at my neck to make sure the collar was still gone. Yeah, it is. It didn’t take me long to calm down, but I couldn’t get back to sleep. So, I walked to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water to quench the sudden dryness in my throat. 

 

With a now comfy throat, I began to make my way back to my room. However, I heard a loud gasp as I passed the hangar. “That could’ve just been one of the ships.”, I thought, “Or maybe it was an intruder.” Checking the hallway, I entered the hangar and got into a crouching position as I snuck my way around, looking for the source of the noise.

 

As I passed one of the ships, I heard talking and cautiously dipped my head out. By the next ship over, was Keith and Allura. Keith had a large bag strapped to his back. 

 

“Guys.”, I said, “What’s going on?” They yelped as they didn’t see me. “Where did you come from?”, Keith asked me. “The Galra homeworld.”, I answered, “Why?” “He means what are you doing here?”, Allura asked me.

 

“I heard a noise so I investigated.”, I replied, “So, what are you guys doing?” “It’s none of your business.”, Allura answered. It was safe to assume, from the bag and armor, that they were running away. “Is this about Zarkon?”, I asked, “Shiro said it didn’t matter anymore.”

“We know.”, Keith replied, “But we have to know if Zarkon’s tracking us through me or Allura.” “Then shouldn’t you tell the others?”, I asked. “We can’t.”, Allura said, “They’ll stop us.” “B-but what about Voltron or the coalition?”, I stuttered, “If we lose you guys, Voltron will be useless.” “We won’t be gone long, Zas.”, Keith told me, “We just need to know.”

 

“So, once you find out, you’ll come back?”, I asked. He nodded. So, I had two options at this point. One, tell the others about this and stop it or two, help them conduct their experiment. “What can I do to help?”, I asked them. “Just don’t tell the others.” I nodded.

 

“Just make sure you come back.”, I told them. He nodded and they climbed into the ship. They prepared for launch and were ready to go. “Hey, Keith?”, I asked. “Yeah?”, he replied. “In the Thaldycon system, did Uncle Ulaz give you anything before we left him? Anything at all?”, I continued.

 

“No, why?”, he answered. “No reason.”, I said, “Stay safe.” The ship quickly launched leaving me alone in the hangar. The big, empty, creepy hangar. I immediately made a dash for the door and my room.

 

THE NEXT DAY…

 

We all met up with one another as we made our way to the bridge. As we got there, Coran informed us that the Castle will be entering Taujeer’s orbit soon. Shiro ordered for the particle barrier to be raised and a Galra scan. He looked around and had a confused face.

 

“Where are Keith and Allura?”, Shiro asked. I just gave a shrug of my shoulders as a ‘I don’t know’. “It appears one of the pods launched in the middle of the night.”, Coran answered. Lance suggested that they may be ‘sittin in a tree’. That’s ridiculous, there aren’t trees in open space. Shiro contacted the pod where Allura explained what they were doing. 

 

Shiro told them to come back to the Castle but they refused. Keith argued that he could outmanoeuvre the Galra if they found the pod, especially with the booster rocket. I saw Keith’s flying skills with his lion. I knew that boy wasn’t lying.

 

Suddenly, we felt a great shake as the alarms sounded. “What was that?”, I asked. Hunk said we were in a debris field. Coran explained that the debris field originated from Taujeer. We could hear Allura try to speak but her communication cut out.

 

“Some kind of radiation from the planet is interfering with communications.”, Coran said. Shiro told Coran to move the Castle away to re-establish the link while everyone else went to the lions to investigate the planet below.

 

As we approached the planet, we saw a large ship being held in supports on the surface. It was dangerously close to the pools of acid surrounding it. “I don’t see any Galra.”, Hunk said. “Looks like that fancy Galra finder doesn’t work. Nice work Pidge.”, Lance replied.

 

Shiro ran out to meet one of the Taujeerianss, presumably the leader. I could hear them from the cockpit. The leader introduced himself as Baujal. He explained that his people built an ark to escape their dissolving planet, but a nasty Galra commander named Morvok took all their resources and all but one of their engines.

 

As he talked, I looked out and saw pieces of landmass being swallowed by the acid, while bubbles of acid exploded onto the remaining bits of the planet’s crust. “You’re not stranded anymore.”, Shiro told him, “We will save your people.” 

 

“I believe you, for I have heard many legends of the valour of Voltron.”, Baujal said, “Five brave paladins dedicated to this…Wait, wait.” “I count only four of you.”, he pointed out, “Are you not Voltron?” 

 

“Uh, almost?”, Lance said. “Where is the fifth paladin?”, Baujal asked. Well, time for me to introduce myself.

 

“Yeah, sorry about that.”, I apologised as I stepped out, “Our red paladin is…unobtainable at the moment. Apologies again.” “A Galra!”, Baujal exclaimed. “Don’t worry, he’s on our side.”, Shiro replied. “Lovely to meet you, I’m the Doctor.”, I introduced myself.

 

“A Galra paladin.”, Baujal replied, “How unexpected.” “Yes, well not every Galra in the universe is a total quiznak.”, I told him, “Now that we’ve all been introduced, what’s the plan?” “Right. Pidge, Hunk, take a look at the ark and see what we’re dealing with.”

 

Hunk called it a piece of cake when the supports broke down and the ark plopped down to the ground. “Oh, dear.”, I commented. “Would you settle for upright?”, Hunk asked.

 

With this complication, we got back into the lions and raised them up to get an overview of the situation. Shiro said that we needed to slow the shedding so Hunk suggested using the Green Lion’s vegetation gun to act as stitches on the cracks. It could work but vegetation wouldn’t last long against acid, Pidge suggested, in turn, using Blue’s ice ray to freeze the vines to make them last longer.

 

It was a plan. Shiro told everyone that he and Hunk will hold up the ark while Pidge and Lance secured the cracks. Everyone quickly agreed. So, Shiro and Hunk pushed the supports out of the way while Pidge and Lance quickly froze the cracks with great success. The Black and Yellow Lions quickly got under the ark, slowly pushing it up.

 

“Look out!”, I exclaimed as I saw a crack heading straight for us. It was instantly turned into frozen jungle though as Pidge and Lance swooped to our rescue. “Thanks, guys.”, Shiro said to them. It wasn’t long after that the ark was upright and stable. 

 

The next step was the engines. To put them back into place, the Yellow Lion would hold the engine up while Hunk used his Bayard to weld the engine in place. 

 

“Well, it ain’t pretty but it should get you airbor-”, Hunk said. A crack instantly erupted behind us cutting him off as the ground shook beneath us. “Just in time.”, Shiro said. Everyone quickly returned to their ships, ready to get out of there. We watched as the engines turned on. They sputtered, but it managed to ignite. The ship was rising.

 

I gave a quick sigh of relief. But like always, good times are cut short when a purple laser hit the ark causing to fall back to the ground. I looked up and saw the Galra fleet above. “Oh, now that’s just unfair.”, I muttered. “What was that?”, Pidge asked. “The Galra.”, Shiro answered, “They’re back.” The ship fired again at the ark, specifically the areas around it. The areas in turn fell into the acid, creating smaller land and more danger for the Taujeerians.

 

Shiro quickly ordered for Hunk to hold up the ark and prevent it from entering the acid. “But if the Galra found us, that means…”, I thought. I raised my ear to the comm, “Coran, I need a pick up, now.” “What are you doing?”, Shiro asked. “Getting our red paladin and princess back.”, I shouted as I ran to the jaw where I jet-packed to the Castle which began to make it’s way into orbit.

 

“Coran, open the hangar doors.”, I told him. “Righty-ho”, he replied as the doors slid open. I quickly entered and manoeuvred myself to land. From there, it was a deep sprint to the bridge where I turned on communications. 

 

“Help the others, I’ll contact the pod.”, I told Coran. He nodded and talked with the other paladins. “Keith, Allura.”, I called, “Come in?” “We’re here, Zas.”, Keith responded, “What’s going on?” “Well, good news and bad news.”, I answered, “The _good_ is that we now know Zarkon is definitely not tracking us through either of you.”

 

“And the bad?”, Keith asked. “We know he’s not tracking you…”, I continued, “Because a Galra fleet just showed up here. So, not to rush but could you please come back and give us a bit of a hand?” “We’re on our way.”, Keith answered. “We’ll be there in 2 dobashes.”, Allura added. “Brilliant.”, I commented. Keith then suggested using the fuel Pidge added in the pod. After that, communications went back to static. I looked up to see the lions attacking the ship successfully. 

 

“Shiro?”, I asked. “What is it?”, he responded. “I contacted Keith and Allura.”, I told him, “They said they’re on their way but the communications cut out abruptly, it’s not coming back online.” “Keep trying them.”, he said. I then noticed that the large weapon on the top of the ship was turning. “Shiro, the ion cannon.”, I said. “I see it.”, he confirmed, “He’s aiming it for the ark. Pidge! Lance! Attack the ship with your jaw blades!”

 

They did as he asked, they attacked the sides of the ships with their jaw blades. It caused a significant amount of damage on the ship but the ion cannon was still powering up. “Shiro, you need to target the cannon specifically.”, I told him, “It’s one of the more independent systems of the ship.”

 

He grew the jaw blades on his lion and made quick work of the cannon as an explosion came from the neck of it. The ion cannon missed and this time, hit the vegetation covering the cracks. “Well done.”, I said, “It looks Shiro disrupted the guidance system. They can’t aim the cannon. It’s essentially useless.”

 

“Rocks! Big, big rocks!”, Hunk said as we saw a tidal wave of debris heading for him which was quickly cut off by Pidge and Lance. The Galra ship tried attacking with all it’s weapons. A rookie move. 

 

The attack though was putting all the lions in dangerous waters though. Suddenly, Coran announced, “We’re in range for an attack.” “Raise the particle barrier and fire on the Galra ship.”, I said. The Castle quickly fired a massive multitude of attacks on the Galra ship.

 

“Way to go, guys.”, Shiro commented. “We got you covered, Shiro.”, I replied. “Hunk, what’s your status?”, Shiro asked. “Mostly just trying not to fall into a bubbling pot of acid.” Then, without warning, the Galra ship focused it’s firepower on the Castle. The Castle rocked as we were hit by each laser attack.

 

“We’re being overwhelmed.”, Lance panicked. “We need Voltron!”, Pidge added. “We need Keith and Allura.”, I muttered. “Oh, if only there were another to pilot the Red Lion.”, Coran said. For me, it was decided. I had to get Keith and Allura. I sprinted down to the hangar where I was about to climb into another pod when I felt something tug at my back. That kind of feeling where you think you’re going in the right direction, but you’re not.

 

I turned around and saw Red standing ready, his head angled as if it was staring at me. I felt compelled to walk to it, so I did. As I stood in front of it, I wondered, what did the Red Lion want? What was it doing?

 

Suddenly, the door swung open and I turned to see Coran walking in what looked like knight armour. “Coran, what are you doing here?”, I asked. “The Red Lion needs a pilot.”, Coran stated, “And I’m here to answer the call.”

 

“Oh, Red Lion.”, he addressed it, “I am unworthy to be your paladin but since you’ve chosen to bestow this honour upon me, Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smythe, I humbly accept.” The Red Lion’s lights began to turn on as it stood before us. It gave a low growl as it opened it’s jaw.

 

“Doesn’t the lion know who’s under the costume?”, I muttered as I stepped into the lion as Coran seemed to be celebrating the ‘honour’. When I got into the cockpit, I sat down and looked upon the console.

 

“Ok, Red. I know I’m not Keith, but he’s gone and we need your help to find him.”, I told the lion, “Please, please. Help us.” The lion gave a growl in response as the console beeped. I quickly felt a sense of knowledge flooding into me as I activated the console and pushed the accelerator. The lion quickly shot out of the hangar and away from Taujeer.

 

 

“Now that’s what I’m talking about.”, I commented as the lion flew faster and faster, literally forcing me to stay in my seat. It felt almost as if we were travelling at the speed of light, it was incredible. The lion then gently slowed as we entered an unknown region of space. 

 

“Is this where they are?”, I asked. Red’s eyes shone to illuminate the path ahead. I looked up and saw two figures in paladin armour floating. I quickly opened communications. “Hello.”, I said, “Keith, Allura. Is it you guys?” “Zas.”, Keith exclaimed, “You found us.” 

 

“And not a minute sooner, the paladins need your help.”, I replied, “Hang on, we’ll come to you.” I flew Red closer to them and the lion, in turn, opened it’s mouth to let them in. I helped them up and Keith quickly took the controls.

 

We sped back to Taujeer where we found the ion cannon turning and aiming for the ark. “The cannon’s back online!”, I exclaimed. Keith was quick on it. He fired his beam at the cannon before it could fire. He then grew the jaw blades and swiped at the neck, this time completely separating the cannon from the ship.

 

We could hear everyone cheer. “Good to have you back, Keith!”, Shiro said. “Good to be back.”, Keith replied. “Is the princess with you?”, Lance asked. “Yes”, Keith said. “Like ‘with you’ with you, or…”

 

“Uh, Keith?”, Hunk asked, “Little help.” Keith flew down and joined the other paladins in pushing the ark up. With the combined force, the ark was easily pushed up to safety.

 

“All right, everybody.”, Shiro said, “No time to relax. Let’s show them what they’re dealing with.”

 

“Form Voltron!”

 

The lions formed the mighty Voltron and was ready to go off against Morvok’s ship. Under the continuous fire of the Castle, the Galra ship turned and began to make it’s way down.

 

“They’re heading for the ark.”, Pidge said. “They’re gonna ram it.”, Hunk added. “We’ll have to meet them head on!”, Shiro told everyone, “Form sword.” Once the sword was formed, we headed straight for the ship. “Will the sword be able to cut through an entire battle cruiser?”, Lance asked. “It’ll have to.”, Shiro said.

 

I felt that tugging again and looked down to see a glowing port where Keith inserted his Bayard. “Guys, I think my lion is telling me something.”, Keith said. All the paladins were getting the same message and followed their instinct. The sword glowed and grew into a sword fit for a giant. 

 

“Awesome!”, I exclaimed. Voltron prepared the sword and began it’s cut through the ship. The path of the sword was followed by bright sparks as we continued forward. It was also followed by a series of explosions. As we finished, it wasn’t long before the battle cruiser was engulfed in flames. Everyone cheered the latest victory but there was still a greater matter at hand.

 

“Now to get the Taujeerians to safety.”, Shiro said. “But how are we gonna do that?”, Hunk asked, “Their booster rockets are shot.” “We could carry them.”, I suggested, “The combined force of the lions was able to quickly upright the ark. Maybe _Voltron_ can lift the ark to the moon.” “It could work.”, Shiro said, “Let’s do it.”

 

So, using the greatest of care and the best of strength, Voltron used it’s rockets to carry the ark away from the harmful acid of the dying planet to a new haven on the moon. With that done, we said our goodbyes to the Taujeerians. They agreed to be part of the Voltron Coalition, which will serve a big help in the fight against Zarkon.

 

As we said goodbye, we returned to the Castle for debriefing.

 

“I’m so sorry for leaving.”, Allur apologised. “Me too.”, Keith agreed, “We thought we were doing the right thing.” “But clearly you were correct, Shiro.”, Allura continued, “We are always stronger together.” “At least we learned that Zarkon isn’t tracking us through you.”, Lance pointed out.

 

“Plus, I learned that my lion can grow armour and extend it’s claws like that…”, Hunk made a gesture of growing claws, “Which will come in handy if we ever needed to, say, I don’t know, slice up a giant steak while getting beat up or fight evil and save innocent people. That too. That would work.” 

“The fact that the Red Lion came to help Keith from so far away is a vital piece of information.”, Shiro said. Keith looked like he was about to speak, but I quickly gave him a shushing gesture. I didn’t understand what happened with Red. The lions bond to only one paladin at a time. It’s never two. Never, not even a one-off. I have to figure this out, but in the meantime, it might be best to keep things quiet.

 

Keith stopped before he spoke as Shiro continued, “We now have proof that a lion and a paladin can, in fact, connect over a far greater distance than we thought. Which means we finally know how Zarkon is tracking us.”

 

“It’s through the Black Lion.”

 

“We have to find some way to stop him.”, he finished. “How are we gonna do that?”, Pidge asked.“We’ve never had this situation before.”, Allura said, “Two paladins battling for the same lion.” “Well, unless we want Zarkon taking control of Voltron every time we get close…”, Shiro replied, “I’ll have to forge a new bond with my lion. One that’s stronger than his.”

 

“Well, while you’re working on that the rest of us need to find new teleduv lenses, otherwise we won’t be able to travel via wormhole.”, Coran mentioned. “Is that something we can mail order?”, Hunk asked. “Does anyone even make those anymore?”, Keith asked. 

 

“I don’t know.”, Allura answered, “Only a few Alteans could use the teleduv 10,000 years ago. They may not exist anymore.” “If they still do exist, they’d probably be rare.”, I said, “Which is good for us because anything rare in the universe has a high value on the galactic markets.”

 

We heard the snap of Coran’s moustache, “I think I may know where we can get some.” Coran went to the front station and pulled up pictures of a space pirate race known as the Unilu. “Coran!”, Allura exclaimed, “You’re not suggesting going to one of those filthy swap moons. The last time you went, those space pirates took you for everything you had.”

 

“Space pirates?”, Lance asked. “The Unilu were traders and pirates that roamed the galaxies and dealt in black market goods.”, Coran explained, “Umvy spice, by-tor water, little bottles of infinity vapour. Of course, you had to bargain! No one could bargain like the Unilu. Last time, I ended up giving away 3/4 of my shipment of lango in exchange for a used pogo oscillator.”

 

Coran and Allura chuckled. “Father was not pleased about that.”, Allura mentioned. “Well, while Coran is picking up his lenses I’ll take you shopping for something sparkly.” “This isn’t shopping!”, Coran stated, “You’re not wandering around saying ‘Oh, what a lovely pink hat. This is so becoming.’.”

 

“No!”, he exclaimed, “I can’t allow Allura to get anywhere near those filthy, lowballing Unilu hoodlums.” “But I love something sparkly.”, Allura replied. “Oooh, me too.”, I mentioned. “Look you’re the only one who can operate the Castle.”, Coran told her, “You need to be resting after all you’ve been through. Now, let’s ready a pod for our mission! We need to get in, find the scaultrite lenses and just get out.”

 

Lance called shotgun, but Hunk retorted by saying you had to be in the pod bay to call shotgun. “While they do that, I’m gonna head down to the hangar.”, Shiro said, “I need to strengthen my bond with the Black Lion.” I walked out with Shiro as we made our way to the hangar.

 

“Hey, I think I’m gonna check out the market with the others.”, I told him, “Might pick up some new stuff.” Ok, truth time. Not the real reason. Ever since I felt that weird energy with the Green Lion on Olkarion, followed by the piloting of the Red Lion, I’ve been on edge. My mind was riddled with questions, which I did not need. Maybe the marketplace might provide me with a break.

“Alright, I’ll see you later.”, Shiro said as he walked down to his lion. I turned and quickly made my way to the pod where Coran and Lance were sat in the front while everyone else was sat in the back. We quickly set off and were on our way to the market.

 

“Hello? Back passengers? Can you hear me?”, Coran said over the comm. “Oh, it’s so comfy up here. Extra leg-room, heated seats! Oh, man.” “Stupid Lance! Stupid shotgun!”, I heard Hunk mutter. “Does he always act like this?”, I asked. “Yes.”, Pidge and Hunk answered. “Now these swap moons are very dangerous environments.”, Coran said, “So be on your toes. No weapons or communication devices of any kind.”

 

“Also, I’ve brought along some disguises.”, he mentioned. Everyone looked confused at that. Next thing we knew, we stood in what looked like a palace of shops, looking like a group of space pirates of normally dressed people.

 

“Uh, Coran?”, Pidge asked, “This Unilu swap meet looks an awful lot like a regular mall.” “It does seem to be cleaner than I remember.”, Coran replied. “And it looks like it got a couple of upgrades as well.”, I mentioned. “Still, be vigilant.”, Coran continued, “The Unilu are cut-throat, wheeler-dealers. So keep your hands on your coin satchels.”

 

“My satchels are empty.”, Hunk said. “G-good.”, Coran replied. “Let’s just get this over with.”, Keith sighed. Coran told everyone to fan out for the teleduv lenses and to meet at the ticking clock in an vaga. He then left us as he went on his search.

 

“So anyone else wanna ditch the lame pirate threads?”, I asked. Everyone hummed in agreement and we threw the disguises in the trash. Everyone split up and went their own way. Lance went with Pidge. Hunk went solo and I paired up with Keith.

 

“I don’t need you tagging along.”, Keith said. “Yes, but think about this way.”, I replied, “We have a chance to socialise and we can talk about what happened with Red.” My tone grew serious. “For some reason, I was able to pilot Red to find you.”, I told him, “I didn’t even know how to fly Red and yet, it felt as if the knowledge was there.”

 

“That’s impossible.”, Keith stated, “There’s only one paladin for each lion.” “That’s what I thought but something else happened on Olkarion.”, I replied, “When I was in the Green Lion with Pidge, I felt something, a sort of connection. Before we left, Ryner told me that she saw the bond of the Green Lion within me and Pidge. She said that there could be a chance for two pilots of the Green Lion.”

 

“Why didn’t you say anything before?”, he asked me. “Because I don’t understand much about it yet.”, I told him, “I’ve tried researching everything about the lions, I searched their whole history. There’s nothing about a lion having two paladins at the same time. Nonetheless, two lions choosing the same person.”

 

“Well, we never heard of something like this.”, Keith responded, “Listen, not even Allura and Coran know everything about the lions. Ever since we found Voltron, the Lions have surprised us multiple times. New abilities, new bonds, new secrets.”

 

“Yeah.”, I said, “But Keith, I don’t want to be a lion’s paladin. That’s your guys job. My job is to help the weak and injured of the universe.” “Voltron does that.”, Keith stated, “By fighting Zarkon, we prevent him from picking on the weak of the universe. Maybe the lions see something in you.”

 

“Regardless, though, this has happened with two lions.”, I said, “No way is that normal.” “You got a point. But if you want to find out more, maybe it might be best to include everyone. They can provide some good help.”, he suggested.

 

“I’d be ok with telling Pidge cause of what happened with the Green Lion, but I’m not sure about everyone else. Can we hold off just for a bit?”, I asked. “Sure.”, he agreed. He then stopped as he saw something. I turned and saw a cutlery shop. We watched as the clerk seemed to be advertising a product.

 

I didn’t pay much attention. He did some fancy tricks with his knives and talked about how it was so good. He kept talking until everyone else left but us. “I had a question.”, Keith told the clerk.

 

“Fine!”, the clerk replied, “What do you got?” “Have you ever come across something like this?”, Keith asked as he pulled out a familiar looking knife. It was shiny and had bandages wrapped around the hilt. “Ooh, nice.”, I commented.

 

Keith placed the knife down as the clerk began to study it. He pulled out an eyepiece to get a closer look. “Woah, this craftsmanship is incredible!”, he exclaimed, “And is this a luxite blade? The planet they mine that from hasn’t existed in decaphoebes. Where’d you get this?” 

 

“Someone gave it to me.”, Keith told the clerk. “Okay, that’s vague.”, the clerk replied, “Tell you what…I’ll give you 1,000 GAC to take it off your hands.” “It’s not for sale.”, Keith stated. “Two thousand.”, the clerk offered. “Hey, he said it’s for sale.”, I told the clerk, “Give it back.”

 

“How about this?”, the clerk asked, “I keep the knife and you guys beat it before security gets here. I know it’s stolen.” “It’s not stolen.”, Keith growled. “Then tell me where you got it.”, the clerk retorted. Keith made a grab for the knife but the clerk had a strong grip. The clerk pulled out one of his knifes leading to a knife fight between the two. I grabbed at the clerk’s arm pulling his knife away. The clerk in turn, punched me with his third arm.

 

As we gradually wore the clerk down, I looked to Keith to see if he was okay. Then, I glanced at the knife where I noticed the bandages were slipping in the grip. They lowered until they revealed a purple insignia…

 

of the Blade of Marmora!

 

I punched the clerk multiple times as he lowered to the counter. Keith used it to snatch the knife out of his hand before making a runner. I quickly followed. We ran for at least two blocks of shops before we stopped to take a breather. 

 

“Where did you…get that…blade?”, I panted. “Zas?”, he cautioned. I felt an anger flow through me as I pushed Keith to the wall. “Where did you get it?”, I growled, “The only Blade of Marmora we’ve seen was my Uncle Ulaz and I don’t remember him giving it to you. So, you either stole it or Uncle Ulaz decided to be generous. Which is it?”

 

“It’s not Ulaz’s”, Keith grunted against my grip, “And it’s not stolen.” “Then why do you have it…”, I pulled out the blade from his pocket, “In your pants?” “I didn’t get it in space.”, Keith explained, “I got it on Earth.” 

 

“How did you get it on Earth?”, I asked him, “No Galra have visited Earth at all. There’s no way a blade can be on Earth.” “My-m-my dad gave it to me.”, he wheezed as I tightened my grip on him. 

 

I let him go and he took in loud, big gushes of air. There’s no way a human can have a Blade of Marmora on Earth. The only way is if a Galra gave the blade to a human.

 

“Who’s your dad?”, I asked him. “I don’t know his name.”, Keith replied, “He died when I was young.” 

 

“I’m-I’m-I’m so sorry.”, I apologised, “I don’t know what came over me. I-I-I gotta go.” I ran off ignoring Keith’s pleas and shouts. I kept running until I eventually came to a bathroom where I went in to hide. As I turned on the tap and drank some of the water, my mind was racing with questions.

 

I begged for it to stop. It hurt. Then without warning, a series of images swarmed my head. Pictures of the lions and a meteor and Zarkon.

 

“You!”, I heard a voice growl behind me. I quickly turned and noticed no one was there. I also noticed I had the blade I took from Keith ready for an attack. I breathed as I calmed myself down and washed my face to clear my head. “You’re here for a break, you’re here for a break.”, I tell myself. After a couple of dobashes, I placed the blade in my jacket and walked out of the bathroom and saw Pidge standing there.

 

“Oh, hello Pidge.”, I greeted. “Hey Zas.”, she replied, “What are you doing here?” “Just having a quick break.”, I told her, “What about you?” “Uhh, just looking for the lenses.”, she said. “Where’s Lance?”, I asked. “He’s not far. Come on.”, she gestured for me to follow her. When we found Lance, he was standing in front of a shop with all this cool looking, weird stuff.

 

“Lance, come on!”, Pidge said, “We have to be back at the ticking clock in half an hour.” “But Pidge, wait, look at all this crazy Earth stuff this alien is selling!”, Lance replied. “Oooh, Earth stuff.”, I commented before starting to browse. As I was looking over these films labelled, ‘Star Wars’, Pidge was gawking at what I think is a couple of gaming machines. 

 

“Zas, how much you got?”, Pidge asked me “What?”, I replied. “How many GACs do you have?”, she asked. I pulled out my GACs and quickly counted them. “2,000”, I told her. “10,000 more to go.”, I heard her say. She then ran off with Lance while I still looked around. As I did, I found myself staring at a creature that I didn’t know.

 

“That’s Kaltenecker.”, the shopkeeper told me, “He’s only 100 GAC or free with any purchase.” Kaltenecker made a weird sound as it kept it’s blank expression. I looked down and saw a little do-hickey. “What’s this?”, I asked. “That is referred to as an ‘i-pod’. It contains a great range of classic Earth songs.”, the shopkeeper explained.

 

I’ve never heard Earth music before. “How much?”, I asked. “1,000 GAC.”, the shopkeeper replied. “I’ll take it.”, I stated. He handed me the I-pod and a rein. I looked up and saw the rein attached to Kaltenecker. “A free Kaltenecker with any purchase.”, the shopkeeper said.

 

I thanked him and began walking to see if I could locate Lance or Pidge, it didn’t take as long as I thought, however, when I find them in the fountain looking for GACs. I approached them and asked, “What are you doing?” “Getting money to buy the gameflux.”, Lance explained. “We just need to get 10,000 GAC and then, with your amount, we can get it.”, Pidge added.

 

“Oh. Sorry, Pidge, you might have to raise that amount by a thousand.”, I told her. “Why?”, she asked. “I spent 1,000 GAC on a list of Earth music and I got a free Kaltenecker.”, I pointed at the creature in question.

 

“Uh, Zas.”, Lance said, “That’s a cow.” “Oh.”, I replied, “I was wondering what he was.” I chuckled but then groaned as another pain hit my head. I saw the Black Lion again, with wings! Extraordinary. I watched as it swiped past a group of ships and fired them into oblivion. It was astonishing. But then the lion turned and a grave image appeared.

 

“I have you now.”, Zarkon said. The lion fired at me and suddenly I was flung from where I was. Spinning. Screaming. I landed on my back as I felt pain through my body. 

 

“You are a fool to face me here.”, Zarkon said. I looked up and saw Zarkon and Shiro facing each other. “When you die in this realm, your body dies as well. And then I will take control of Voltron.”, he continued. I looked around and saw that we were in some sort of dark dimension, with a slight hint of purple. I looked to my side and saw the Black Lion standing there, watching the two.

 

“Not again.”, I said to myself. I stand and walked forward to get a closer look. I saw Zarkon sprint toward Shiro and punch him. The force was so strong, Shiro was knocked off his feet and flown a few feet before being punched in the back.

 

“Shiro!”, I shouted. I saw him go forward and use his Galra arm to attack. I cheered as he began beating down on Zarkon. Until Zarkon dodged and hit Shiro from behind. He bounced off the floor and was met in the air by Zarkon hitting him back down to the ground. I run forward and try to distract him, but it seems they can’t hear me. “Leave him alone!”, I exclaimed. I approached Shiro’s side and tried to talk with him, but he didn’t answer. Instead, he rose with heavy breath and ran at Zarkon. As he attempted to take him down, Zarkon tempted him.

 

“You could never take my place as the head of Voltron.”, Zarkon told Shiro. He grabbed Shiro’s hand and quickly broke it. Shiro cried out in immediate pain. “No!”, I shouted. Shiro was kicked back onto the ground but he got back up.

 

“You can’t pilot the Black Lion after everything you’ve done.”, Shiro told him, “You can never lead Voltron again. You’re no paladin!” Zarkon responded with another punch, sending Shiro back further. I turned back to the Black Lion. “Please!”, I begged it, “HELP HIM!” I turned back to see Zarkon punching Shiro into the ground. Shiro needs help. I’ve got to help him, I can’t let him die. I ran forward and got next to Shiro as Zarkon prepared his next punch. “STOOOPP!”, I shouted. A sudden black orb appeared around Zarkon’s hand.

 

“What is this?”, Zarkon shouted. The familiar feeling of strength flooded my bones as I could feel a burning within me. “Shiro’s right.”, I said, “You’re no paladin. You used the lion to hurt people, to create chaos and mayhem. Shiro. He’s shown more heart and courage and more compassion than anyone I have ever known. If you think you can win this fight, then _you_ are clearly mistaken.”

 

Zarkon lowered his hands and Shiro raised himself off the floor.I stepped in front of Shiro as a guard and saw as Zarkon eyed me. Looks like I’m not invisible any more. “Impure.”, Zarkon growled. “I’m not an impure.”, I told him, “I’m the Doctor.” I pulled back my fist and punched him. It sent him flying like Shiro did. I could the feel the strength in me. “Zas?”, Shiro asked. I turned around and saw Shiro looking in surprise. 

 

“Shiro!”, I exclaimed, “Are you alright?” I crouched down to look at his hand. “How did you get here?”, he asked me. “I don’t know.”, I answered, “But I couldn’t stand by and watch you get hurt.” I looked in the other direction and saw Zarkon heading straight for us.

 

“Um, Zarkon’s coming back.”, I said, “What do we do?” “We fight.”, Shiro replied, “Together.” I nodded. We stood up and got into a fighting stance as Zarkon approached. We sprinted forward and met him with punches. Shiro stayed on the front, while I went around behind Zarkon. With us on both sides, Zarkon had to divide his strength. To help, I looked in my jacket and found the blade.

 

I grabbed it and used it to stab at Zarkon. As I did so, he growled and turned before punching me in the face, sending me packing to the other side. “Zas!”, Shiro called before being punched away too. Zarkon turned and headed for me. As I tried to stand up, he placed his boot on my chest and pinned me down.“Do you think the Black Lion would allow such feeble creatures to pilot it?”, Zarkon asked, “Only the powerful can command it.”

 

Shiro came in for an attack but Zarkon caught him in a choke hold. I tried to get up, but Zarkon applied more pressure. “You’ve forgotten what’s most important between a lion and it’s paladin.”, Shiro wheezed, “It’s not about power.”

 

“It’s about earning each other’s trust.”, I finished.

 

“Trust has nothing to do with it.”, Zarkon said, “The lion is mine, forever. And you two will die.” He tightened his grip on Shiro’s throat causing him to scream in agony. “No!”, I shouted as Zarkon applied more pressure. Suddenly though, the Black Lion dropped down next to us and fired on Zarkon.

 

I slowly came to as I saw Lance and Pidge looking down on me. “Zas, are you alright?”, Pidge asked. “W-what happened?”, I groaned. “You had a seizure dude.”, Lance answered, “You were out for like 2 dobashes.” I got up slowly remembering what happened. Me and Shiro went up against Zarkon to win over the Black Lion. Although, once again my mind is riddled with another set of questions. Was Shiro alright? Was Zarkon dead? Was all that real? Today just brought more questions than answers.

 

“I-I’m fine.“, I told them, “I can give myself a proper diagnostic when we get back to the Castle.” They told me that they got all the GACs they need and we went to buy their game-flux thingy. As we walked out though, we saw Keith and Hunk running by.

 

“Time to get moving guys.”, Hunk said. “Security’s on our tail!”, Keith added. We looked down the hall to see a fat security guard calling after them. We began running and joined Keith and Hunk. However, I instantly saw the balcony we were heading for. 

 

“Balcony!”, I shouted. I felt a pull on my clothes as Lance yanked me onto the cow. “Everyone hop on Kaltenecker.”, Lance told them. “You bought a cow?”, Hunk asked. “It was free with purchase.”, Pidge replied as we got on the cow and flew over the balcony and safely lowered to the ground but the security guy was still on our tail.

 

Lance quickly steered the cow and swerved it to avoid the guard. As we did so, we spotted Coran walking out of a dirty looking shop. “There he is!”, Pidge exclaimed. “We gotta go, Coran.”, Keith told Coran. Coran quickly caught on and ran as we met him and yanked him onto Kaltenecker, We quickly steered and came upon the entrance. As we passed through it, we looked back and noticed the guard stop.

 

“You better run!”, the guard said, “Don’t let me catch you in my jurisdiction again, pirates.” “Oh, so you can’t follow us outside, huh?”, Lance asked. He then began to taunt the guard when his head quickly met a lower part of the ceiling, knocking him off Kaltenecker. 

 

“That’s one for Varkon.”, the guard cheered. We quickly grabbed Lance and ran back to the ship. As the others got inside, I stopped Keith before he went in. “Hey, Keith.”, I told him, “I’m sorry about what happened earlier. It wasn’t appropriate. And I’m sorry I took this.”

 

I presented him with the blade. “I shouldn’t have taken it. I was just…angry.”, I said. “Thanks.”, he picked the blade from my hands and hid it in his pocket, “Just don’t tell anyone. I don’t know how my dad got one of these and I'm still trying to figure things out.”

 

“Well, maybe when we go to the Blade of Marmora headquarters, they can provide some answers.”, I suggested, “If you want I can tag along, I can be like a spy with cool weapons and stuff.” “We’ll see.”, Keith replied.

 

“Will you guys get your butts in here?”, Lance said, “Today’s given me a headache.” We apologised and got in the ship as it took us back to the Castle. As we got back, I told the others I needed to check on something before I joined them on the bridge. After I was excused, I sprinted down to the Black Lion’s hangar.

 

“Shiro.”, I called, “You here?” “I’m right here.”, Shiro replied as he stepped out from behind the lion. I acted on impulse and grabbed him in a tight hug. “I thought something bad happened to you when the lion shot at us.”, I said. “I’m fine.”, he replied, “I thought we went somewhere, but turns out we were in the hangar the whole time.”

 

“Yeah, I have no idea what happened.”, I said, “One tick, I’m with Lance and Pidge by the fountain, the next I find myself in that weird purple place with you and Zarkon.” “The lion must’ve brought you there, but I don’t know why.”, Shiro explained. “Maybe it knew that the best way to win was together, or some spiritual saying like that.”, I suggested.

 

“Yeah.”, Shiro said, “I still don’t understand it though.” “Oh, I’m sure the answer will reveal itself.”, I replied, “It should do eventually.” He nodded, “Hey, um, did you…mean it?” “Mean what?”, I asked. “You said I was compassionate, brave and had heart.”, Shiro replied. I took a few ticks to consider my answer. “Shiro, what I said was true.”, I told him, “Because you’ve cared more than anyone about the people of the universe, the lions…and your family. You’re able to show more compassion to find good in evil. You saw my skin of Galra and yet you trusted me like there was no one else left. That kind of compassion and heart. That’s worth respecting.”

 

I think I can see tears in Shiro’s eyes. “Thank you.”, he said. “Aw, come here, you Space Dad.”, I replied as I pulled him in for another hug. We were both smiling now. “So did you manage to strengthen your bond?”, I asked him. “Yeah, our bond got stronger and Zarkon’s connection’s been severely weakened.”, Shiro answered. “So Zarkon can’t track us?”, I asked. “I think it’s safe to say that.”, Shiro replied. “Well, come on, let’s go tell the others.”, I gestured for him to come with me which he accepts. 

 

As we walk down the hallway, Shiro asked, “Hey, do you think maybe you might want to get a drink sometime?” “I’d love to.”, I beamed, “Fighting Zarkon is busy work, I could do with a drink or two.”

 

The door opened and we entered the bridge. “What did you do?”, Allura asked, “Take a nap.” “Not exactly.”, Shiro answered, “Is that a cow.” “Cow is the name of his species.”, I whispered to Shiro, “His name is Kaltenecker.” The cow made its sound in response.

 

“So, did you find a way to bond with your lion?”, Keith asked. “Yes and we need to get moving.”, Shiro said, “We’re headed to the Blade of Marmora headquarters.”

 

“I’ll plot a course.”, Coran said. Pidge and Lance went to plug in their game thing which reminded me about the iPod. “Hey, Shiro?”, I asked, “On the way, do you wanna grab that drink? I got something I want to try.”

 

“Sure.”, he said as we went down to the kitchen. When we arrived, I programmed the machine to give us an Earth drink. I’ve never had one and Shiro is from Earth. Thought’d it be nice to have a compromise. The machine poured out two drinks in glasses that looked like a wine shape but instead had a small cone shape at the top. They had an orange liquid and a slice of an orange on the rim. 

 

According to the computer, they were called ‘Orange blossoms’. Nice. I picked up the glasses and gently carried them over to the table where Shiro was sat. “Here we go.”, I said, “Two Orange Blossoms.”

 

“I didn’t think you knew what a martini was.”, he replied. “Mar-what?”, I asked, “No, I just had the computer serve up a couple of Earth drinks. Thought it might be nice.” He took a sip, “It is nice. Well done.” “Thanks”, I thanked him.

 

“Hey, you said you wanted to try something?”, Shiro asked. “Oh yeah.”, I pulled out the iPod, “I got this while I was at the market. It contains a list of popular Earth songs.” “Wow.”, he replied, “I haven’t seen one of these in a while. What’s it got?”

 

“I’ve no idea but I want to find out.”, I answered as I began pressing buttons. Suddenly sounds began pouring from the small contraption as it sang.

 

_Is this the real life?_

 

“Ooohh”, I awed at the new sounds.

 

_Is this just fantasy?_

 

_Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality._

 

“Bohemian Rhapsody.”, Shiro said, “Classic.” “Bo-what?”, I asked. “It’s a song from Earth by this band called Queen.”, he explained. “The royal family on your planet write songs?”, I asked, “Wow! They must be creative.” “No, Queen is the name used by the band.”, he answered, “It was one of the best bands on Earth.”

 

As I listened, I could hear the sounds as they grouped together and made a beautiful melody. “I see what you mean.”, I said as I heard the singer continue. “Yeah.”, Shiro said, “This is one of the best songs ever.”

 

I sat back down as I took another sip of my drink. “Earth music seems so different from the music I’ve encountered.”, I commented. “How so?”, Shiro asked. “Well, whenever I encountered music, it’d sound like the angels were singing, like that was the standard. Earth music sounds more like a guy trying to show how he actually feels in his own way. I respect that.”

 

The music then went into a section that included something called a ‘gallileo’. “No, wait, there it is.”, I continued. He chuckled. “Well, everyone’s entitled to their taste in music.”, he said. “If that’s the case, then I think I’ve found my taste.”, I replied. “To Earth music then.”, he said as he raised his glass. “Earth music.”, I responded as we clinked our glasses and drunk them down.

 

“Time for seconds!”, I exclaimed. “We really shouldn’t-”, Shiro said.

 

“Nonsense!”, I exclaimed again, “You strengthened your bond with your lion, you kicked Zarkon out like he was just a bunch of waste and we’re now on our way to the Blade of Marmora; I think we should celebrate, don’t you?” Shiro sighed and smiled, “Fine.”

 

“Yes!”, I said as I ask the machine for two more drinks. I immediately placed one down in front of Shiro on the counter and I sat opposite him. “Today was pretty hectic though.”, I told him, “I feel like we need a day to relax.”

 

“Last I checked, we haven’t found any spas in space.”, Shiro answered. “A what?”, I asked. “Never mind.”, Shiro said. “Uh, what I wouldn’t give for a massage?”, I said. “I don’t disagree with you there.”, he replied.

 

The song now began to slow down as it went on about the wind. “Hey, here’s a crazy idea.”, I told him, “What if we gave each other massages?”

 

He blinked. “I’m sorry?”, he asked. “We give each other massages.”, I repeated, “We take turns rubbing our hands on each other’s shoulders. With Earth music in the background and the drinks flowing, it should be relaxing.”

 

“You’re serious?”, he asked. “Oh, yes.”, I replied, “Ladies and Gentlemen, now introducing ‘Drinks and Massage night ft. Earth music.’.” He gave me a slight look of disbelief. “The title needs work, I know.”, I answered, “Tell you what. I’ll start.”

 

I stood up and walked to the point where I was standing behind Shiro. “Just settle down and relax.”, I told him in a whispery, slow tone, “Listen to the soothing sounds of Earth music while I relax your muscles.”

 

He chuckled, which was followed by my own. “All right then.”, he said, “As long as you stop with the voice.” “Just trying to enhance the experience.”, I replied. I slowly place my hands on his shoulders as the song switched.

 

_When I need motivation_

 

_my one solution is my queen_

 

_cause she stays strong_

 

I began to slowly move my hands as the song played smoothly. To ensure effectiveness, I’d press my palm down a little to really rock the shoulders. “It’s digging in a little.”, Shiro hummed. “It means it’s working.”, I told him, “…I think.” I slightly spread open my fingers as I lightly brush them against the front of his shoulders as my hands moved slowly backwards and round as I made sure to cover all of the areas.

 

“Wow, you’re kinda good at this.”, he complimented. “Hey, doesn’t hurt to feel relaxed does it?”, I muttered. I continued moving slowly and slowly as I saw him close his eyes and lean his head back. When I came across a certain spot, he’d release a silent gasp as he’d let his lips hang slightly open in a quite attractive way.

 

“Maybe I should try being a massage guy.”, I said. “I’d bet you’d make a fortune.”, Shiro replied. “Never been one for riches.”, I answered, “Oh, don’t forget your drink as well.” I removed one of my hands and lifted Shiro’s glass up.

 

“Here, have a sip.”, I said. He smiled and took the glass in his hand as he drank. I took the tick to take a sip of mine. “How’d that feel?”, I asked. “It was nice.”, he answered. “Nice?”, I asked, “From the way you were reacting to it, I’d expect something a little more like amazing or wonderful or pleasurable.”

 

He chuckled as I grabbed the third round and sat down. “So, tell me.”, I said, “What does ‘nice’ mean in this scenario?” “It means…well done?”, he replied. I laughed, “I’ll take it.” We clinked our glasses as we drank them down. And that was how it went: drink, chat, laugh. That was the cycle for the next 10…15…17, 17 drinks. By that time, I felt the world spinning round and round as I watched the two Shiros before me.

 

“I didn’t know you had a twin?”, I laughed, “I’m Zas, lovely to meet you.” I reach out my hand to shake the second Shiro's hand when my hand went through him and I plopped down to the floor. “My word!”, I exclaimed, “Shiro, your twin is a ghost!”

 

He laughed, “I think you might have had too much to drink.” He burped. “Ha, ha. Aww, Space Daddy burps like his children. Ha, haha.” We both laughed. I couldn’t remember much afterwards. The next thing I remember is us in Shiro’s room.

 

“Aww, thanks for letting me sleep here again, Shiro.”, I thanked him, “I just don’t think I might’ve been able to make it back to my room before I fell asleep.” I plopped down on the bed as he plopped down next to me. “Mmmm, thanks again, Zas.”, Shiro slurred. “What for?”, I asked. “For-for-f-f-for everything.”, he stuttered, “You’ve done so much. You helped me when I was injured, you helped me get over my asshole of an ex-fiancé and you helped me kick Zarkon’s _ass_.” 

 

“I don’t know what an ass or asshole but it sounds bad.”, I giggled. “It should mean donkey.”, Shiro told me, “But instead it means your butt.” He even pointed to show it. I laughed wildly. “And that’s not all.”, he told me, “We’ve got crap, shit, and fuck.” “Earth and its dirty words.”, I beamed, “It’s amazing.” 

 

“You’re amazing.”, Shiro said. “Aw, thanks buddy.”, I replied. “Tell you-tell you what?”, he asked, “I think I’m ready to move on.” “Move on with what?”, I replied. He plunged forward and placed his lips on mine. They were smooth, like silk sheets. He slowly pulled away as we stared into each other's eyes.

 

“You just kissed me. Wow.”, I said, “I would’ve appreciated dinner first though.” We laughed. “A-are you ok with that though?”, he asked me. My answer would lead to one of the most embarrassing moments in my nightlife, while also providing a crucial moment in future events.

 

“Well, I’d-I’d uh, prefer dinner firrrsttt.”, I told him, “But your lips are smoooooth as hell. I think…I think I can make an exception.” We chuckled as Shiro placed his lips on mine for a second time. 

 

Now, something you should know is that whenever I’m in a relationship, I like to treat my partner gently and nicely in bed.

 

However, for all those encounters, I was sober. Tonight, I was completely intoxicated. I just wanted to have him, like an Unilu looking for GACs. So instead of taking our time, treating each other sweetly as we embraced. We ended up doing this instead…

 

I pulled him in further as I opened my mouth to invite in his tongue, which he gladly accepted. As our tongues clashed, with mostly his holding mine down. I pull on his shirt trying to get it off. “Why…won’t…it…come…off.”, I grumbled. “Maybe, cause you’re pulling on my pants as well.” I looked to see that one of my hands was indeed on the waistline of his pants while my other was pulling up his shirt. 

 

“Let me help.”, he said as he grabbed at the hem of his shirt and pulled it off with ease. As I looked down, I was in awe of the sight. His torso was massive and chiselled, like a statue of a god. His stomach held 3 rows of 2 abs as they lead up to his enormous pecs. 

 

“Oh, come here you sexy thing.”, I told him as we chuckled. He leaned down on me as we plopped back down and he started to kiss at my neck. I gasped at his rough touch as he kissed and nibbled at my neck with a quickened pace. 

 

“Wait, hang on.”, I said, “Let’s just get naked so we don’t have to stop.” He nodded and we both stood up as we began tugging at our clothes. As I pulled my shirt up, I had trouble as it got stuck around my head.

 

I could hear Shiro laughing. I managed to untangle myself and toss the shirt to the floor before dropping my pants and flinging my socks off. I was in nothing but my underwear, I looked up and couldn’t help but chuckle at what Shiro wore.

 

“You have a lion for underwear.”, I chuckled as I pointed at his Black Lion underwear. “Can’t help to root for the home team.”, he said as he picked me up and we dropped back down on the bed.

 

“Hey, let me top.”, I said as he rolled over and I straddled him. I moved back slightly and smiled at the sight of Shiro’s standing erection poking in his underwear. I wrapped my fingers around his waistline and prepared to pull down.

 

“Alright, let’s see what Space Daddy’s hiding.”, I beamed as I yanked down his underwear. My face was instantly met by Shiro’s slapping 7 and a half inch penis. He chuckled at that. “Oh, you think that’s funny.”, I said.

 

I instantly gripped Shiro’s penis and squeezed tightly, ceasing his laughing and earning a gasp. Then, I wrapped my mouth around his penis and bobbed down and up in a fast, steady motion, while still maintaining my hold. He moaned and moaned as I continued it.

 

“Oh, yeah.”, he moaned, “Don’t stop.” I increased speed as my nose was now meeting Shiro’s pubic hair every two ticks. I even managed to engage his penis in a fight with my tongue as it wrapped around like a tight circle.

 

“Oh, yeah. Oh, fuck. I’m gonna…I’m gonna cum.”, he said. So with that, I gave one last, long lick before moving away from his member. “Oh, what are you doing?”, he whined. “Why do you get all the pleasure?”, I asked, “Let’s both get in on it.” 

 

I straddled him again; this time, I raised my ass slightly and positioned myself so that I was right above his penis. I grabbed it and placed it at my entrance before quickly inserting it in. We both moaned.

 

“Hell yeah.”, I moaned, “Quick and rough, let’s do it.” I quickly raised myself again before dropping and repeated it in a non-stop pumping action. As I did so, I could feel the friction of his penis within me and it felt amazing!

 

Suddenly, I gasped as an electric shock flowed through me. “Foooound it.”, Shiro beamed. He took control from there, he raised and lowered his hips as he entered me at the same angle, causing me to moan and gasp continuously.

 

“Oh, Shiro.”, I moaned. I could feel a hand on my penis as Shiro rubbed it like it was a lifeline. I could feel the sensation burn within me as I felt my release coming. “Shiro, I’m close!”, I exclaimed. “Me too.”, he replied, “Cum together?”

 

I nodded and as we continued. I felt the sudden surge of relief as I ejaculated from Shiro’s rubbing. As I did so, I could feel myself tightening around Shiro’s penis and I watched his face twist as his ejaculation struck as well.

 

I could feel it flowing inside me, like a river starting from a waterfall. It took a lot out of me, so I plopped down and snuggled up to Shiro. 

 

“That was incredible.”, I told him. “It was fucking amazing.”, he said. “Oooh, Space Daddy’s got a mouth on him.”, I replied. I could feel his penis, still sitting inside me, twitch at that last sentence. 

We chuckled.

 

“You know, I thought the Galra might have their dicks covered in fur.”, Shiro mentioned. “Ewww, why would we do that?”, I asked, “We don’t want hair up in our holes. Your pillow talk could use some improvement.”

 

We chuckled again and yawned as we felt a sleep spell come about. 

 

Which brings us to the morning after. As I wake up, I groaned as I felt my head banging. I try laying on the pillow but it’s naturally harder than it was. I try to move but I feel something shift in my lower regions, causing me to moan. I looked down and saw that there was someone beneath me.

 

I looked around and saw that I was half naked and on top of a half-naked, hot-looking sleeping Shiro. I lifted up the blanket to have a look under there. Correction! I was naked, with Shiro’s penis in my ass. The memories from last night came flooding back in.

 

“Oh, quiznak.”, I whispered

 

_TO BE CONTINUED…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kismet-my pet  
> met - pet
> 
> What secrets will be unfolded at the Blade of Marmora's headquarters, why does Zas have some sort of connection to the lions? More importantly, though, how will Zas and Shiro deal with this new development? 
> 
> TBH, I wasn't really sure about putting in a lemon in this chapter. Wasn't sure if it'd be too early, but in the end, I thought it was a good choice. Hope you guys feel the same. 
> 
> Thanks so much again for reading, hope you'll all look forward to the next chapter.


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